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Debt Talks in Disarray as House Balks
New York Times ^ | October 15, 2013 | JONATHAN WEISMAN

Posted on 10/16/2013 12:52:18 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

".......A day that was supposed to bring Washington to the edge of resolving the fiscal showdown instead seemed to bring chaos and retrenching. And a bitter fight that had begun over stripping money from the president’s signature health care law had essentially descended in the House into one over whether lawmakers and their staff members would pay the full cost of their health insurance premiums, unlike most workers at American companies, and how to restrict the administration from using flexibility to extend the debt limit beyond a fixed deadline.............."

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: healthcare; obamacare; shutdown; subsidies
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But Congress isn't a company - it's Big Government - and we're carrying the costs of their subsidies - it's billed to us. Let Congress and their staffs (many who are married to media people, consultants and members of the other party, etc, etc) "enjoy" the fruits of Big Government -- use it, pay for it (just like we have been set up) and then see why it must go.

Small Mom and Pop businesses, who employ a majority of American workers (at least they used to until Obamacare came on the scene - so those numbers may have slipped) are being strangled by this latest Big government dictate.

So the final insult (well I'm sure there will be many more insults from this administration) is that the country class has to subsidize healthcare costs for the political class, the ones who locked the Obamacare yoke on necks (and our children's and grandchildren's).

Obamacare is killing the U.S. economy.

1 posted on 10/16/2013 12:52:19 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

While baseball is in commercials, I switch around a bit, and invariably take note of all these talking heads who are “just baffled” about the budget “impasse.”

It never seems to occur to any of them that maybe if Obama didn’t flush money down the crapper with a steam shovel none of this would be happening.


2 posted on 10/16/2013 1:01:22 AM PDT by Jack Hammer (American)
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To: Jack Hammer
It's hair-pulling exasperating. Some facts should be lighting up their brains and breaking through their thick, partisan, party-line, talking head skulls: this downward spiral for the U.S. has been chosen by this administration - that the American people lose their freedoms and become the masses bled and controlled by a strong-armed leader and his sycophant party circle.

And about the 2nd argument mentioned in the excerpt above from the NYT: "and how to restrict the administration from using flexibility to extend the debt limit beyond a fixed deadline.............."

Banning 'extraordinary measures' could reduce default risk "Republicans are trying to restrict the Treasury's ability to maneuver under the debt ceiling with a provision that could, counterintuitively, have the effect of reducing the possibility of a default in the future.

House Republicans are considering legislation to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government that includes language banning the Treasury from using "extraordinary measures" to create headroom under the debt ceiling in the future.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has been using such measures, which include issuing IOUs to government employee retirement funds and shifting around government accounts, since the debt reached the statutory limit of $16.7 trillion in May. Lew has said that he will run out of the measures on Thursday, at which point he will be left with only cash and incoming revenues with which to pay the country's bills.

His projection has been wrongly interpreted by many in the government and media as a hard deadline for avoiding a default on Treasury obligations. The Treasury likely has enough funds on hand to meet all its bills through Oct. 22 at the earliest or Nov. 1 at the latest, according to Bipartisan Policy Center's projections.

Confusion over when exactly the government faces default is hurting the Obama administration's credibility, former Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee said last week. Goolsbee called it a "fuzziness problem": The public doesn't understand the timing of the default threat, even if they believe it's a real threat.

Removing the use of extraordinary measures might clear up that fuzziness....................."

3 posted on 10/16/2013 1:20:20 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Jack Hammer

Your money is being constructively used to buy the votes of the parasite layabouts.

Sleeve tats are not cheap.


4 posted on 10/16/2013 1:21:31 AM PDT by gasport (I ain't got no guns.)
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To: gasport

The Tea Party complainers are GREEDY! /s


5 posted on 10/16/2013 1:34:16 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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The RINO asshats that fell out of line are responsible for this narrative. # them! Start organizing to run the bastards out of town now!


6 posted on 10/16/2013 1:44:45 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

these dummies dont realize that OBAMA’S cia/NSA/etc can provide him with summaries of the repubicans communications...its why BRAZIL wrent nuts how do they negotiate with OBAMA when he has every word they say among themselves....the republicans are so dumb, cry baby barbag boehner is acting like he has something to hide that they know about

OBAMA doesnt have to negotiate when he knows what their plan is ,follow the NSA


7 posted on 10/16/2013 1:49:38 AM PDT by Understand the stimulus
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To: Gene Eric; Understand the stimulus; All
Bridge Burning and Bridge Building (E. Erickson predicts Obama will delay indiv mandate after...)
8 posted on 10/16/2013 1:51:28 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Obamacare is doing just as planned, strangling the economy. The house is doing as the Constitution empowers them to defund obamacare. If they give up this power to defund we are done. .


9 posted on 10/16/2013 1:59:35 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot (Marxism works well only with the uneducated and the unarmed.)
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To: All

I believe Reid and the Democrats REALLY, REALLY want to roll back the Sequester.

Will the GOP hold the line there?


10 posted on 10/16/2013 2:01:05 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Jack Hammer

Certainly, don’t let the NYTimes set the narrative. Ignore the left wing scum media and wait for the outcome. The times paints this as a trivial issue of bickering by representatives and their personal concerns. Another misleading nytimes trash tabloid. The old media is our enemy, never forget that.


11 posted on 10/16/2013 2:14:44 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot (Marxism works well only with the uneducated and the unarmed.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

If it’s good enough for us, it’s good enough for them.
Period.


12 posted on 10/16/2013 2:17:08 AM PDT by stilloftyhenight (TEA baby! Let's roll!)
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To: Understand the stimulus

Who knows more about who?

Does Zero know more about the NSA?
Or does the NSA know more about Obama?

The answer is obvious, so we know in part who Zero answers to.

Ask yourself this:

When National Forest Service or National Park Police get their checks, WHAT BANK IS IT WRITTEN ON?

What is the bank code and account number? Is it the United States Treasury? I kinda doubt it.

Find out who is writing the checks and you go a long way towards finding out who is really in charge.


13 posted on 10/16/2013 2:21:19 AM PDT by djf (Global warming is turning out to be a bunch of hot air!!)
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To: stilloftyhenight; All

Roll Call:

http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/senate-staff-gets-guidance-for-now-on-obamacare-exchanges/

“Senate staffers were notified by the Disbursing Office on Tuesday that they will need to enter the D.C. health care exchange, regardless of their state of residency, and will lose their employer contribution if they do not enter the D.C. exchange, according to a memo obtained by CQ Roll Call.

Some Washington, D.C.-based congressional staff retain their in-state residency (oftentimes to pay the lower tax rate in their home state) and all members have district staff outside Washington. The open enrollment in the D.C. exchange for most staffers who are losing their Federal Employee Health Benefits plans will be Nov. 11 to Dec. 9. There previously had been some confusion over which state exchanges staffers would enter and frustration that the smaller-than-most-states D.C. would have an exchange with fewer coverage options, even as it offers national plans.

“If you are currently enrolled in traditional FEHB and it is determined you are now eligible for DC Health Link, your traditional FEHB coverage will be terminated on December 31, 2013. The coverage you elect via DC Health Link, during the Federal Benefits Open Enrollment period, will begin on January 1, 2014. Once again, if you do not elect via DC health link, you will not have Senate employer-sponsored coverage in 2014,” the memo read.

The memo also states that staffers’ share of health care premiums would be withheld from their pay on a pretax basis and that qualifying staffers will have the ability to continue FEHB coverage into federal retirement (which also had been a concern for longtime Hill staffers).

Leadership staffs and committee staffs are still exempt from the exchanges, as was written into the law (by leadership and committee staffs). It is up to each office, per the Office of Personnel and Management rule stated in the memo, to determine who is qualified for this exemption.

Of course, the memo also warns its recipients that they “should remain attentive to further communications about the implementation of this ACA provision and not rely on this notice alone,” as there currently is a push in Congress, led by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and again embraced Tuesday by House Republicans, to eliminate the employer contribution for Hill staff.

Read the full memo here.”


14 posted on 10/16/2013 2:22:12 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"Obamacare is killing the U.S. economy."

Obama is killing the U.S. economy and with the help of the LSM He is able to blame it on the Republicans. Of course the RINOS are helping.
It is sickening to watch.

15 posted on 10/16/2013 2:34:34 AM PDT by DeaconRed (The TEA PARTY is my new party. Juan Mclaim and his Republican party can kiss my Grits.)
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To: DeaconRed

Washington Times Editorial:

“..............The Senate’s initial plan was to play the usual Washington game of bait and switch, funding the government and allowing unlimited borrowing in return for a promise of a committee meeting to talk about entitlement and spending reform, with coffee and tea and maybe the Democrats will bring Danish. It’s politics designed to appeal to those who can’t remember 2011, when we went through the same charade. President Obama won a $400 billion increase in the credit limit in return for the creation of a “supercommittee” to come up with $1.5 billion in spending reductions over 10 years. The “supercommittee” failed, as President Obama knew it would, and sequestration was the consolation prize.

The House Republicans wanted to beat the Senate to the punch with their own proposal to fund the government until Dec. 15 and raise the debt limit through Feb. 5 in return for a single concession. Congress and the White House staff would put aside their sweetheart insurance deal and sign up for the Obamacare they prescribed for everyone else. Chief Justice John Roberts, whose vote saved Obamacare in the Supreme Court, would have kept his sweetheart insurance. This would grieve the chief justice because he would feel cheated that he couldn’t share the misery. This was weak stuff indeed, considering the Republican starting position was defunding Obamacare entirely. The Tea Party balked.

Some pollsters portray Republicans as the losers, but maybe not. The midterm elections are a year away, and voters have shown they’re angry with politicians of every stripe. Circumstances constantly change. A new Rasmussen poll finds that 46 percent of those surveyed would give Democrats full control of Congress and 45 percent would give it to Republicans. This is the same even split we’ve seen in the past several elections.

Mr. Obama says he’ll veto any legislation that doesn’t give him everything he wants and nothing he doesn’t. He understands the value of a clear position. Though Americans are angry that Mr. Obama dispatched National Park Service rangers to prevent tourists and veterans from strolling through outdoor monument grounds, he knows the dent in his approval rating, currently hovering at 40 percent or less, can change, too. He’s standing his ground because he understands how the brinksmanship game is played..........”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/15/editorial-looking-for-the-deal/


16 posted on 10/16/2013 2:46:29 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: All

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/15/house-conservatives-sabotage-boehner-plan-to-end-s/?page=all#pagebreak

Washington Times: “....................Fitch Ratings put U.S. Treasury bonds on a negative ratings watch Tuesday, saying that even if the federal government continued to make debt payments, cuts to other spending would “damage the perception of U.S. sovereign creditworthiness.”

The other two ratings agencies, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s, have not signaled similar warnings yet.

House Republicans were left reeling by the conservative revolt within their ranks.

In characterizing the situation, one Republican, Rep. Devin Nunes, posted a Twitter message Tuesday night that linked to a video of the climactic scene in “Star Wars” when the Death Star explodes.

Emerging from an evening closed-door meeting with Mr. Boehner, Rep. Pete Sessions told reporters they were no longer going to put the House bill on the floor Tuesday.

“We are going to be prepared tomorrow to make some decisions,” Mr. Sessions said.

Earlier Tuesday, the GOP thought it had a solution. In a meeting of the entire House GOP conference, Mr. Boehner presented a plan to reopen the government through Dec. 15, to raise the debt ceiling through early February, to repeal the medical device tax in Obamacare, to require Mr. Obama and his top aides to take part in the health exchanges, and to stiffen income verification for those getting government subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

But by the end of the two-hour meeting it was clear there was dissent, and Mr. Boehner told reporters they were still working on the plan.

By Tuesday afternoon, they had narrowed the bill down to just the requirement that Mr. Obama and top political appointees take part in the health exchanges, without the benefit of government subsidies to pay their premiums.

“If Obamacare is good for members of Congress, then it’s good for the president,” said Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican.

A vocal group of conservatives rebelled again, though, forcing the GOP to scrap that new bill.............................”


17 posted on 10/16/2013 2:52:13 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Just in time for halloween . . .


18 posted on 10/16/2013 3:36:56 AM PDT by jonrick46 (The opium of Communists: other people's money.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

to kill the economy obama has to first kill the Congress
That is what this is about

a potus power grab of powers reserved to the Congress

he never did need no steekin’ Constitution
Just dingy Harry, a lap dog MEdia, a shady bunch running CIA/NSA/HHS and Justice Dept, and legion of ideological bureaucrat minions


19 posted on 10/16/2013 3:56:23 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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Ben Bernanke has been able to pull 85 billion dollars a month from the black hole to buy US mortgages.


20 posted on 10/16/2013 4:01:04 AM PDT by listenhillary (Courts, law enforcement, roads and national defense should be the extent of government)
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