Posted on 10/16/2013 4:49:51 PM PDT by Perdogg
Capitol Hill talk regarding the Senate deal apparently includes a provision that would take away the Congress’ power to increase the debt ceiling. According to Politico, it looks like the buzz appears to be true.:
The plan includes a proposal offered by McConnell in the 2011 debt ceiling crisis that allows Congress to disapprove of the debt ceiling increase, which means lawmakers will formally vote on whether to reject a debt ceiling increase until Feb. 7. Obama can veto that legislation if it passes. If Congress fails as expected to gather a two-thirds majority to override the veto, the debt ceiling would be raised.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
No, of course I don’t want him to have that power. But, this provision doesn’t GRANT him that power - the debt ceiling increase itself does. This provision theoretically grants Congress the ability to stop him from doing so. It’s a meaningless provision (since, as you say, the chances of this congress stopping him with a 2/3 majority are slim to none). But this provision is not the harmful one here - the harmful provision is the debt ceiling suspension itself.
Please respect my cynicism. lol
My understanding is that only lasts until Feb 8th.
/johnny
/johnny
So you’re a cynic too? Great, welcome aboard.
Chump change.
/johnny
/johnny
I know that you’ll be thrilled to know that in the House just now Scott (D-GA) just said they had to get back to
“defending the federal government
upholding the federal government
working for the federal government
as we took an oath to do..”
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
didnt they take an oath to uphold the Constitution ???
didnt they promise to work for the people ???
No, I don’t “work for Mitch,” and I hate this bill. I am just referring to this one provision, and my only point is that it DOES NOT allow the debt ceiling to be raised unilaterally after Feb. 7. Extending the debt ceiling after Feb. 7 would require Congress to pass a new law.
No, I don’t “work for Mitch,” and I hate this bill. I am just referring to this one provision, and my only point is that it DOES NOT allow the debt ceiling to be raised unilaterally after Feb. 7. Extending the debt ceiling after Feb. 7 would require Congress to pass a new law.
WHAT
THIS IS A HUGE POWER GRAB
HOLY COW.
no,.
the judas elite K street bagman keeps’ the citizens checkbook open for his K street owners past 2014 elections !
15 vote right now in the House
to concur with the Senate amendments
The GOPe didn’t just give away the store, they gave Obama the mineral rights too
Will see how 2014 shakes out. After four years of Obozo and this liberal Senate, if Americans do not take control of the Senate and strengthen the majority in the house....it's paint a pretty stark pic.
and they gave him the rights to the air above it...
That's the way the U.S. has been running for the past five years.
It's all over. I can hardly keep from weeping.
“My understanding is that only lasts until Feb 8th.”
That’s true. But, at least as I read it, the debt ceiling is suspended until Feb. 8, and then on Feb. 8, it is automatically increased to the level of borrowing at that point in time. So (to use round numbers), assume the current debt is 18T, and between now and Feb. 8, the feds issue $2T of additional bonds - then, on Feb. 8, once the suspension of the debt limit is over, the limit would automatically increase to $20T.
My concern is this - what if, between now and Feb. 2, Treasury issued an additional $10T of bonds - far more than Treasury would spend in that period. So, come Feb. 8, Treasury would have no more authority to issue new debt, BUT it would have 8-10T cash on hand, so it would not need to issue any new debt (which would effectively eliminate the debt ceiling as a practical matter). Obviously there would be logistical issues (I doubt Treasury could issue that much in that short a time period - someone has to buy the bonds, after all). But, there doesn’t seem to be anything in this law that would stop Obama from doing this.
“That’s the way the U.S. has been running for the past five years. “
The debt ceiling has been a pretense for a lot longer than five years, unfortunately. I’ve said for a long time that the Obama administration is not the cause of America’s collapse, but merely a symptom of a decline that has been coming for decades.
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