Posted on 12/19/2024 9:53:38 AM PST by Red Badger
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared to shut down Republicans’ push to raise the debt ceiling in a Thursday morning social media post.
“GOP extremists want House Democrats to raise the debt ceiling so that House Republicans can lower the amount of your Social Security check. Hard pass,” he posted on his Bluesky account.
Jeffries' statement — pointedly not posted on Elon Musk’s X — comes as Republicans are floating the idea for a new stopgap measure to fund the government that would include disaster aid and raising the debt ceiling.
And behind closed doors, leaders projected unity and urged the caucus to hold the line.
In a meeting with the entire Democratic Caucus Thursday morning, Jeffries quoted President John F. Kennedy, telling members: “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate,” according to two people familiar with the remarks, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal party dynamics.
He also asked his caucus who his negotiating partner would be, and asked if he should be calling Musk.
“This caucus has shown ’grit and grace’ and that’s exactly what we’ll need going into this,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) told attendees, according to one of the people familiar.
With the clock ticking down towards a government shutdown, the House minority isn’t showing any signs of bailing out their GOP counterparts. Republicans torpedoed a bipartisan deal to fund the government through March and provide billions in disaster and farm relief — along with a slew of other lawmaker priorities — after Musk and President-elect Donald Trump signaled their opposition.
Further complicating the matter, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance said they wanted to inject the debt ceiling into the debate, and it’s not clear whether a new debt ceiling agreement could be negotiated before the Friday shutdown deadline.
“I wish Speaker Johnson would grow a fucking spine, because it's pathetic,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Rules Committee Democrat.
But some Democrats signaled they might back a new stopgap funding plan to keep the government open, depending on the details.
“Democrats will vote to keep the government open, and if it means a clean CR, I think that's what we'll do,” said Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.).
No kidding
I was thinking the same darn thing
Give the Dems a clean bill with the 3 items Trump wants.
If it doesn’t pass and the Dems want to shut down government, let them.
That is BS, this has nothing to do with the amount of SS checks.
The Government will not shut down, they can still run with the existing Tax revenues that are coming in, they just can’t deficit spend.
The real problem is Health care spending which is running at least a $2 Trillion Deficit right now.
Dunno about FReepers, but it seems DJT won the advantage with a 3D head fake, while Jeffries fell for it hook, line and sinker.
When you run scenarios about how the present system collapses “unexpectedly”, even a three week disruption in payments would close 80% of the hospitals in the country.
And, once closed, at least half won’t reopen.
This is not a comment about the budget non-process or what should be done in DC about THAT. It’s a comment about the precarious state of hospitals and how 50 years of compromises and failure to engineer a secure funding mechanism has brought us close to disaster.
Clean CR or we are shutting down the government. Give that to the rats and let them say no deal.
I hate to tell you this, but Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid are Federal entitlements, which are a large component of the National Federal Debt, and it is purely up to Congress to decide if when and how these entitlements are payed out.
For "Social Security", this is clearly spelled out in Section 1104 of the original SSN act of 1935, and confirmed by the Supreme Court in Fleming vs Nestor
Medicare is just an expansion of Social Security per The Social Security Amendments Act of 1965.
As shown by the latest report from the SSN Trustees, SSN has been spending more than it has been getting from payroll taxes for at least the last two years.
This would not appear to be an issue until ~2033, when the current $2.6 trillion in special bonds held by the trust fund runs out, but the big lie is these special bonds are nothing but IOUs and the money was spent years ago.
In other words Social Security is bankrupt now, and the difference between payroll taxes and outlays for SSN is made up by income taxes !!!
“ Clean CR or we are shutting down the government”
Big brag. You can’t even lose 3 Members assuming all are present.
The Democrat Shutdown is just days away.
The House needs to pass a clean extension bill, announce it to great fanfare, and then recess and go home for Christmas. Let Chuckie Schumer take it or leave it.
DOLLAR STORE OBAMA GHETTO RHUG
Hmmmm. Some head fake.
Definitely having second thoughts about my earlier head fake theory. Crazy day.
No debt ceiling has never limited one single $ of deficit spending - all it does is pit Republicans against Republicans while Democrats continue to spend with abandon.
Right now, because of an arbitrary debt ceiling that is just going to get raised anyway, Democrats know they will have the help of fiscally conservative Republicans in defeating any bill that does not give the D’s everything they want..
The debt ceiling is just a way for Democrats to threaten Republicans with shutdown
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