Posted on 11/19/2004 10:10:03 AM PST by soccer_linux_mozilla
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress sent President Bush an $800 billion boost in the federal borrowing limit on Thursday, spotlighting how the budget has lurched out of control in recent years and how hard it will be to afford future initiatives.
The House approved the measure by a near party-line 208-204 vote as White House and bipartisan congressional bargainers moved to the verge of agreement on a year-end spending package expected to total $388 billion. Negotiators said just a handful of issues remained unresolved, and a package might be ready for votes by late Friday.
With the government facing imminent default because it has depleted its authority to borrow money, the debt limit bill would pump up the federal borrowing cap to $8.18 trillion. That is 70% the size of the entire U.S. economy, and more than $2.4 trillion higher than the debt Bush inherited upon taking office in 2001.
"The president commends the Congress for passing the debt limit increase," the White House said in a written statement that did not mention the magnitude of borrowing involved or its causes.
(Excerpt) Read more at clubforgrowth.org ...
If they can change it, how is it a limit?
$8.18 trillion = 80% of our GDP (aprox.)
Pleanty of tax increases to come . . . unless SPENDING is cut dramatically
Simple solution:
1) Bail out of the Outer Space Treaty
2) Start annexing asteroids and bits of the Moon
3) Sell those parcels to the highest bidders.
Why does the phrase "spending like drunk sailors" come to mind?
We are not invulnerable, no matter what the economists say. Congress imposes the incredibly expensive SOX legislation on the private sector but does nothing to heal its own practices.
Sooner or later the check will come due.
Well, that was expected.
What I'd like to see, though, is a lot less spending and a lot more cutting. President Bush appears not to be able to take a hard line on spending, and that's a shame.
Social conservatism is excellent, but fiscal conservatism seems to me to be more important, and that's missing in the Bush administration so far.
It is time to cut expenditures, not increase them. What I'd like to see is an across the board 15% cut in the budget for every department of the government, with the heads of each department completely responsible for the cuts.
There is at least 15% waste in every department, including the military and intelligence communities. My guess is that the waste is much higher than that, but 15% is a good start.
I'd like to see this happen, but I'm quite certain it will not. Instead, we will go on spending more each year until we bankrupt ourselves.
This is more than just annoying!
It isn't a limit. It's a gimmick. The debt limit is a gimmicky law that they should just do away with.
I think I'm going to get a couple dozen credit cards and max them out.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
It's becoming increasingly clear what the adjective "compassionate" really means.
"Fiscally liberal" would be a pretty good definition from what I've seen so far.
Votes on bills to raise the $7.38 trillion debt limit by $800 billion.
HOUSE
Republicans: 208 for, 10 against, 9 not voting
Democrats: 0 for, 193 against, 12 not voting
Independent: 1 against
SENATE
Republicans: 50 for, 1 against, 0 not voting
Democrats: 2 for, 42 against, 4 not voting
Independents: 1 against
Are you sure it's not more like 19%? I thought the GDP was around $11 Trillion / Quarter these days.
MUST SEE debt clock:
http://zfacts.com/p/461.html
Wait a few seconds and see how debt changes every 5 seconds. Incredible!
At what point does the debt matter?
......and the NATIONAL DEBT is $8.18 trillion.
"At what point does the debt matter?"
Which debt? Your debt? The minute you don't pay your bills.
The federal debt? Sometime down the road...
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