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House torpedoes unconditional hike to $14.3 trillion debt ceiling
The Hill ^ | 05/31/11 | Russell Berman

Posted on 06/01/2011 4:52:46 AM PDT by Scanian

The House overwhelmingly voted down an unconditional increase to the $14.3 trillion debt limit Tuesday, as the Republican majority delivered a symbolic rebuke to President Obama ahead of a meeting at the White House.

The vote was 318-97, with 82 Democrats joining every Republican in rejecting legislation that would have authorized $2.4 trillion in additional borrowing by the federal government. Seven Democrats voted present on the legislation.

House Republicans scheduled the vote, which occurred after the close of the American markets, to demonstrate to Senate Democrats and the White House that Congress would not increase the debt limit without significant spending cuts and reforms.

The lopsided result was expected after Vice President Biden began bipartisan negotiations on a long-term debt-reduction plan, essentially acceding to the GOP demand that an increase in the debt ceiling be paired with fiscal reforms.

In an unusual twist, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), sponsored the bill only to oppose it.

“This vote, a vote based on legislation I have introduced, will and must fail,” Camp said in a floor speech. “Now, most members aren’t happy when they bring a bill to the floor and it fails, but I consider defeating an unconditional increase to be a success, because it sends a clear and critical message that the Congress has finally recognized we must immediately begin to rein in America’s affection for deficit spending.”

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: benchsitter0bama; biden; democrats; golf4obama2day; makebelieveballroom; obama; republicans
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1 posted on 06/01/2011 4:52:51 AM PDT by Scanian
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To: Scanian
7 Dims voted Present.... Cowards!

Mike

2 posted on 06/01/2011 4:56:41 AM PDT by MichaelP (The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools ~HS)
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To: MichaelP
7 Dims voted Present.... Cowards!
Are you calling our President a coward?
3 posted on 06/01/2011 4:58:32 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: Scanian
Well enough with the symbolism, get down to saving our currency, paying the debt, and getting government out of the way of business
4 posted on 06/01/2011 5:06:46 AM PDT by reefdiver ("Let His day's be few And another takes His office")
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To: Scanian

” ... 82 Democrats joining every Republican in rejecting legislation ...”

Absolutely, infuriatingly shameful. Those 82 commies voted to protect their rear end and save their jobs, nothing else. If they could have voted without being held accountable, every one of those pieces of garbage would have voted for raising the ceiling.

Come on commies... show yourself for what you are.


5 posted on 06/01/2011 5:11:35 AM PDT by brownsfan (I miss the America I grew up in.)
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To: samtheman

“Are you calling our President a coward?”

We have a president?

Then who is that asshat that keeps taking vacations and playing Golf on our dime?


6 posted on 06/01/2011 5:12:02 AM PDT by Howie66 (I can see November (2012) from my house.)
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To: samtheman

“Are you calling our President a coward?”

Coward is a compliment compared to what I think of him.


7 posted on 06/01/2011 5:12:29 AM PDT by brownsfan (I miss the America I grew up in.)
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To: samtheman
Are you calling our President a coward?

Complete absence of testicular fortitude.

8 posted on 06/01/2011 5:14:06 AM PDT by CholeraJoe (13% better than placebo? Really? You call that an effective treatment?)
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To: Scanian

Defund all collectives foreign & domestic. Cut government pay in half. Make legislating a part-time job with no benefits. We can get out of this socialist/totalitarian quagmire and become low-taxed prosperous/productive citizens in a country that acts as a beacon for individual liberty.


9 posted on 06/01/2011 5:15:09 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: brownsfan

What would you expect those Bolsheviks to do when their phoney-baloney “leader” Obama submitted a budget that actually INCREASES spending?

They are being true to form except for the “heroes” from purple districts who voted “no.”


10 posted on 06/01/2011 5:18:38 AM PDT by Scanian
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To: samtheman

He is not my President..........


11 posted on 06/01/2011 5:19:44 AM PDT by Concho (-)
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To: brownsfan

Tar and feathers for the 97 who voted to raise the debt!


12 posted on 06/01/2011 5:20:28 AM PDT by 2001convSVT (Going Galt as fast as I can.)
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To: samtheman
Are you calling our President a coward?He is, absolutely! But he didn'y vote on the bill...

Mike

13 posted on 06/01/2011 5:26:27 AM PDT by MichaelP (The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools ~HS)
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To: Howie66

14 posted on 06/01/2011 5:27:35 AM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
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To: brownsfan

Don’t worry all 82 of them will vote for it next time along with most Republicans. Then they can all say they voted agains’t raising the debt ceiling before they voted for it.


15 posted on 06/01/2011 5:43:29 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Yes, this might just be temporary. Already, El Presidente wants to negotiate.


16 posted on 06/01/2011 5:46:33 AM PDT by fatnotlazy
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To: Scanian
" The vote was 318-97, with 82 Democrats joining every Republican in rejecting legislation that would have authorized $2.4 trillion in additional borrowing by the federal government. Seven Democrats voted present on the legislation. "

WHOA!!!

First his budget gets a big poetic ZERO in the Senate and now this!!!

It's not too late for them to throw him overboard - could this be some handwriting on the wall?

17 posted on 06/01/2011 5:53:22 AM PDT by OKSooner (Obama confessed "his muslim faith" on the George Stephanopolous show on September 7th, 2008.)
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To: Georgia Girl 2
I pray you are wrong, yet I have no reason to doubt what you typed. I always expect our politicians to place another knife in America's back, and every-time I turn to look, there is always another knife in America's back placed there by our politicians.

I continue to pray the Conservatives will stand up, again, and again. Maybe someday forever ... (sigh). Time will tell if there are any Conservatives in D.C. or America will once more find another knife in our backs. Dang ... Removing those knives from our backs is not becoming any easier. I do commend everyone for this vote of holding the line on the debt, and pray another knife is not forthcoming.

18 posted on 06/01/2011 5:55:49 AM PDT by no-to-illegals (Please God, Protect and Bless Our Men and Women in Uniform with Victory. Amen.)
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To: Scanian
From Milton Friedman's great book, "Free to Choose":

APPENDIX B

January 30, 1979
Washington, D.C.

A PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO LIMIT FEDERAL SPENDING

Prepared by the Federal Amendment Drafting Committee W. C. Stubblebine, Chairman
Convened by The National Tax Limitation Committee
Wm. F. Rickenbacker, Chairman; Lewis K. Uhler, President

Section 1. To protect the people against excessive governmental burdens and to promote sound fiscal and monetary policies, total outlays of the Government of the United States shall be limited.

   (a) Total outlays in any fiscal year shall not increase by a percentage greater than the percentage increase in nominal gross national product in the last calendar year ending prior to the beginning of said fiscal year. Total outlays shall include budget and off-budget outlays, and exclude redemptions of the public debt and emergency outlays.
   (b) If inflation for the last calendar year ending prior to the beginning of any fiscal year is more than three per cent, the permissible percentage increase in total outlays for that fiscal year shall be reduced by one-fourth of the excess of inflation over three per cent. Inflation shall be measured by the difference between the percentage increase in nominal gross national product and the percentage increase in real gross national product.

Section 2. When, for any fiscal year, total revenues received by the Government of the United States exceed total outlays, the surplus shall be used to reduce the public debt of the United States until such debt is eliminated.

Section 3. Following declaration of an emergency by the President, Congress may authorize, by a two-thirds vote of both Houses, a specified amount of emergency outlays in excess of the limit for the current fiscal year.

Section 4. The limit on total outlays may be changed by a specified amount by a three-fourths vote of both Houses of Congress when approved by the Legislatures of a majority of the several States. The change shall become effective for the fiscal year following approval.

Section 5. For each of the first six fiscal years after ratification of this article, total grants to States and local governments shall not be a smaller fraction of total outlays than in the three fiscal years prior to the ratification of this article. Thereafter, if grants are less than that fraction of total outlays, the limit on total outlays shall be decreased by an equivalent amount.

Section 6. The Government of the United States shall not require, directly or indirectly, that States or local governments engage in additional or expanded activities without compensation equal to the necessary additional costs.

Section 7. This article may be enforced by one or more members of the Congress in an action brought in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and by no other persons. The action shall name as defendant the Treasurer of the United States, who shall have authority over outlays by any unit or agency of the Government of the United States when required by a court order enforcing the provisions of this article. The order of the court shall not specify the particular outlays to be made or reduced. Changes in outlays necessary to comply with the order of the court shall be made no later than the end of the third full fiscal year following the court order.


19 posted on 06/01/2011 5:59:18 AM PDT by Bon mots
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To: OKSooner

Nawww...I heard Bernie Goldberg say last night that it would be so hard for Obozo to lose because people find him so damn LIKEABLE! They will vote for him just because they like his SMILE!

I didn’t make it up. He really said that.

Fox is going after the mushy middle. Evidently they think that conservatives will stay with them because they have nowhere else to go. But CNN-type viewers will get on board if FNC acts liberal enough.

They are wrong. The internet is replacing FNC with disgruntled conservatives.


20 posted on 06/01/2011 6:03:30 AM PDT by Scanian
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