Posted on 07/28/2011 8:55:42 AM PDT by greatplains
Partisan politics, grandstanding and obstruction are making it difficult to reach an agreement to raise the national debt ceiling and begin to reduce federal spending, Sen. Ben Nelson said Wednesday.
"Partisan games continue to paralyze Washington," the Democratic senator said during a telephone conference call.
Asked if he believes tea party politics is driving the Republican position, Nelson said: "Yes."
"The so-called 'cut, cap and balance' plan is pretty close to being what you would label the tea party," he said.
That proposal, which included a statutory cap on spending and a proposed constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget every year, was approved by the Republican-controlled House, but rejected by the Democratic Senate.
Nelson said he believes a debt-reduction package needs to be composed of spending cuts without tax increases. But, he said, "some would like to balance the budget on the backs of seniors."
The Republican plan championed by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin would "privatize Medicare," Nelson said.
"There is no private insurance for sick old people," he said, and that's why Medicare was adopted in the 1960s. Some partisan proposals are so "far to the right (that) they would shock the economy," he added.
"Something needs to be done," he said, "but it needs to be done in the right way."
"The politics of this seems to be about the 2012 election," Nelson said. "You can adversely affect the economy (and) the future of the country if you obstruct."
Nelson said he has received an increasing volume of phone calls and e-mails urging Congress to raise the debt ceiling in time to avoid a national default.
"Most everybody is telling us to get a deal," he said.
Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/article_91cdc423-e518-5cb9-a205-fb402f38fedf.html?mode=story#ixzz1TPmMWyY5
Goolsbee’s debt limit comments conflict with Obama’s 2006 vote
By: Rob Bluey
01/03/11 5:44 PM
White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee said Sunday that failing to raise the nation’s debt limit would be “catastrophic.” Yet his boss, then-Sen. Barack Obama, opposed a debt limit increase in 2006 and didn’t even show up to vote on it in 2007 and 2008.
Goolsbee’s comments were viewed as an opening salvo for the White House as it pushes back against conservative criticism of raising the debt ceiling. With many tea party activists voicing alarm about the prospect a vote on the debt limit early this year, Goolsbee said it’s “not a game.”
“If we get to the point where you’ve damaged the full faith and credit of the United States, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity,” Goolsbee said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I don’t see why anybody’s talking about playing chicken with the debt ceiling.”
That’s a sharp contrast from the position of Obama in 2006, while serving as an Illinois senator. Obama joined all Senate Democrats to oppose the 2006 debt limit increase.
“Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren,” Obama said in 2006. “America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”
Obama later missed two votes in 2007 and 2008 while campaigning for president. Many Democrats who opposed the 2006 increase flipped their position once they took control of the Senate.
Katrina Trinko first reported Obama’s comments and 2006 vote on National Review Online.
Bad-hair Ben believes that enough time has passed for Nebraska voters to forget about his disasterous votes and deals that flew in the faces of the majority of his constituent’s desires. Not a chance you democrat POS; you are supposed to represent us, not be a ruler or leader.
Compromise deals got us into this mess.
Where can we see Ben Nelson’s plan to fix this mess?
Ben..... Tell us about that Cornhusker Kickback you got for Obamacare again. Politics?
According to him and other ‘rats, only the Republicans are “partisan”.
The “Lincoln-Urinal-Star” kisses Ben’s Bu** every day.
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