Political Animal
Blog
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters this morning that the right-wing “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan is, in fact, “balanced,” just as President Obama requested. And how is it balanced? It’s simple: Republicans would gut public investments, slash Social Security and Medicare, and impose structural reforms that would make it impossible for the United States to compete for at least a generation. In exchange, GOP officials would raise the debt ceiling.
See? Boehner said. It’s “a balanced plan.”
The Speaker’s confusion notwithstanding, the more pressing point is what his chamber is capable of. Boehner boasted that “Cut, Cap, and Balance” appears to have majority support in the House, so that’s what the chamber will waste valuable time on today. But what comes next? “I do think,” the Speaker added, “it’s responsible for us to look at what Plan B would look like.”
At this point in the process, the number of scenarios is pretty limited. The House could (a) simply refuse to do their duty and cause a disaster on purpose; (b) learn to live with a compromise that raises revenues; or (c) grudgingly accept the McConnell/Reid plan.
The first scenario is one to avoid. The second appears to be impossible. But what about the third? When push comes to shove, can the House live with McConnell/Reid? Greg Sargent has a smart post on this.
Late yesterday GOP Rep. Joe Walsh, who is backed by the Tea Party, began circulating a letter among GOP colleagues that urges GOP leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor to publicly oppose the McConnell plan and even to oppose it coming to the floor for a vote.
A Senate Republican aide tells me that GOP aides will be closely watching the number of signatures it amasses in order to gauge whether the McConnell proposal can get through the House.
Walsh wants more than 100 signatures; Senate Republicans hope it gets no more than 50. If Walsh gets his wish, the likelihood of the entire process collapsing increases a great deal.
For what it’s worth, the number of House Republicans making a lot of noise about killing the McConnell/Reid compromise is actually pretty small. At this point, the right is focused on the theatrics surrounding “Cut, Cap, and Balance,” and hasn’t categorically ruled out the Senate plan, which of course, has not yet even been presented in any detail.
But that’s what makes Walsh’s effort all the more important. If he struggles to garner signatures, the Senate’s Plan B will become the way out of this mess. If Walsh rallies the right-wing troops, the Obama administration may have to reconsider that “constitutional option” the president isn’t inclined to pursue.
Facebook
Twitter
c u n d gulag on July 19, 2011 1:34 PM:
I have no faith in the Teatards in the House to do anything constructive.
If they have to ruin to rule, then so be it.
And no taxes on the rich!!!
Because, you need to understand, you can't tax the King, or the maker of the pot, but you can tax the shit out of the poor Piss Boy all you want.
Make him pay the King for that pot before he's allowed to hold his water.
dalloway on July 19, 2011 1:35 PM:
I'd bet they're already teeing up the constitutional plan. I don't think it was a coincidence that Bill Clinton came out in favor of it today. And if that happens, the Tea Party will lose big time. Either the crisis is averted and Obama looks like a very strong leader. Or SCOTUS rules against him,the markets plunge and Congress has to pass a clean debt ceiling bill to avoid financial catastrophe. Either way the Tea Party is screwed.
bignose on July 19, 2011 1:38 PM:
From the link to TPM:
"That's what this is -- a balanced plan. He gets his increase in the debt ceiling. We get real cuts in spending and real reform that will make sure this doesn't happen again."
Um, no. Obama doesn't get "his" increase. The country is allowed to fulfill its obligations, function properly, and honor the debts that these jokers racked up when they gave all our money away to the rich.
Trollop on July 19, 2011 1:40 PM:
Will somebody arrest that asshole for treason already?
I didn't think so..
Fire him? Remove him from the building?
Bernard HP Gilroy on July 19, 2011 1:43 PM:
I am beginning to hope they do manage to crash the system. We can't keep having these close calls over and over again, and learn nothing. Look at the history leading up to WWI to see how that works out.
It looks like the only way to avoid a default is to hand the Republicans an electoral goldmine while allowing them to continue to be irresponsible. They get all the upsides of an issue to campaign on, and none of the downsides of actually having the govern. I say, frak 'em. And yes, I know the scope of the calamity that will ensue. But if the Republicans get their way, that calamity will ensue nonetheless -- maybe a little bit later but certainly far far worse. Let the crash happen when the authors of it can be clearly known.
I am beginning to wonder if the American experiment can be saved and whether it should be saved.
Gandalf on July 19, 2011 1:51 PM:
Ya know Bernard HP Gilroy I used to think like that once. The problem is when you just give in to insabe assholes it doesn't get any better it only gets worse. If it's too much of a hassle for you to fight these idiots then just figure out a way to move to another planet because there ain;t no escape here.
Burr Deming on July 19, 2011 1:52 PM:
We live in a time in which an extreme measure to slash Medicare and give only most of the savings to the extremely wealthy is characterized as a compromise because it is less extreme than the Ryan plan to abolish Medicare and give all the savings to the extremely wealthy.
Such is the condition of today's contemporary conservative thought.
Holly W on July 19, 2011 1:54 PM:
Let's say it comes down to Escape Hatch vs. Default and you have Club for Growth, Tea Party congressmen etc. screaming against the Escape Hatch. Don't the Democrats have a lot of leverage to reject the demands of the sane Republicans who, by supporting any debt ceiling raise at all, in effect admit that if forced to choose, they choose the base's outrage over default? Why not attach a little job stimulus to the McConnell-Reid escape hatch plan?
(a) There are certain Republicans who will bow to Wall Street if push comes to shove and won't allow default.
(b) It'd be popular and look bad for GOP to block.
(c) Since the GOP is pushing for something they argue helps economy (no tax hike) Democrats can as well.
(d) Deficit can't be "taken off the table" to clear path for more investment. This will repeat the mistake of not attaching debt ceiling raise to lame duck tax compromise and then meeting a block later. They'll just make this deal and then the GOP will block any new jobs measures.
Mimikatz on July 19, 2011 1:57 PM:
Politico is reporting that the SS reforms would include changes to the CPI, the unrealistic "automatic" Medicare cuts that Congres always ends with the "doc fix" would be repealed along WI the AMT. But loopholes would be dumped and there would be 3 tax brackets in a reform package from the Finance Committee. The top rate would apparently be 29%. If this is achieved by repealing the preferential rate for dividends and capital gains, that might be fair, because a rich person with ordinary income of 1 mill taxed at 35% and several mil at 15% would get a higher overall rate. But that has a lot of assumptions. This is the kind of thing the 1986 tax reform package did before the Congress slowly undid it over the next 25 years.
That kind of reform promise might persuade theHouse, although it clearly calls for a net revenue increase and has a lot of actions down the road that the next Congress can undo. At the same time, nothing is secure, because Obama could veto an extension of the Bush tax cuts, smother is no way to guarantee taxes would never go up.
Aynsley on July 19, 2011 1:59 PM:
It seems the 14th is becoming more and more, like a real option, particularly if people like Buffet, Clinton, and others, publicly speak for it.
The problem not spoke of, is whether the NumbNut Repugs are getting sufficient input from Ms. Pelosi...Dems will have to be agreeable to the rescue plan, as the House Repugs aren't passing the Mitch plan on their own.
And I'm surprised that BO isn't using the Soc. Sec. angle to create pressure. If it were me, I'd say, if no agreement in principal by 7/25, we're cutting SS cks in half, to create a cash cushion, and heavily call out the House Repugs for their irresponsibility.
Rick Taylor on July 19, 2011 2:01 PM:
I suppose a clean raise of the debt ceiling with nearly all the Democrats and a few Republicans in the House supporting it is out of the question?
jjm on July 19, 2011 2:03 PM:
What galls me is that people of such low intelligence, who are simply shills for billionaires, have managed to get ALL our attention.
How did that happen?
I recall Alan Simpson saying, with an impish grin, way back when after his debt reduction commission FAILED to issue a report, that there would be a lot of heat and fun around the time the debt ceiling had to be raised.
He knew this was coming; the GOP planned it. The fact that they made a big botch of their planning (since the public is blaming them) doesn't alter the fact that NOTHING else gets in the news. Only backwards looking fools, acting out the Koch Brothers' fantasies. How did we arrive at this?
politics on July 19, 2011 2:13 PM:
GOP = Gridlock, Obstructionist, Preposterous
GOP = Ghastly, Obstinate, Prohibitive
GOP = Conspicuously trying to ruin America as we speak.
Impassioned with selfishness and pretentiousness.
Asinine, unreasonable....
Unable/unwilling to govern or administer.
Ill-disposed, dishonorable, undeserving
Josef K on July 19, 2011 2:26 PM:
From Rick Taylor at 2:01PM:
From Rick Taylor at 2:01PM:
I suppose a clean raise of the debt ceiling with nearly all the Democrats and a few Republicans in the House supporting it is out of the question?
Pretty much, given neither Boehner nor McConnell appear ready to commit political suicide by proposing one. The Senate is definitely a loss as they're going to spend the entire week on this CCB bill (not becauase anyone wants to, but because their chamber's procedures dictate it), so there won't be any time or will to compose such a thing, while Boehner has publically abdicated any leadership here.
The next 14 days are sure to be eventful, as doubtless with the 14 after that.
Anonymous on July 19, 2011 2:27 PM:
Wake me when you need me to participate in the tea party's massacre. Oops, 'bloody' tea party massacre.
wendmi parum, is that Latin?
Trollop on July 19, 2011 2:29 PM:
^^That was me, if you couldn't tell..
Marko on July 19, 2011 2:36 PM:
I don't think the majority of house dems are going to go along with Plan B. It just gives the GOP a hammer to bludgeon them with thru the next election cycle. They should either do their duty according to the 14 Amendment (raise the limit), or let the "Unitary Executive" take over in wartime if they can't or won't.
Marko on July 19, 2011 2:44 PM:
"I suppose a clean raise of the debt ceiling with nearly all the Democrats and a few Republicans in the House supporting it is out of the question?" - Rick Taylor
Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? But yes, it is out of the question. Not enough Republicans to go along, assuming that Boehner would even bring it to the floor.
square1 on July 19, 2011 2:50 PM:
I agree with jjm that the GOP has largely bungled this and those who have followed this issue disproportionate blame the GOP for this mess.
That being said, my strong suspicion is that most Americans simply haven't paid too close attention. And, in the next couple of weeks, as the markets continue to destabilize, people will start to tune in.
And from here on out, I think the takeaway that most people will have is that there are a bunch of plans out there, everyone wants their own, and nobody will compromise. I.e. the David Gregory CW.
It is going to be extremely unlikely that low-information Americans are going to tune in and quickly conclude that Obama and the Dems are being reasonable and that the GOP is being unreasonable. The press is not going to rehash the last 6 months of GOP nonsense. They are just going to say "The House has plan A. The Senate has plans B and C. And the White House has plans D.
And there will be nothing to immediately differentiate any massively-complicated, entitlement-attacking, job-killing plan proposed by the Democrats from the massively-complicated, entitlement-attacking, job-killing plans proposed by the GOP.
Varecia on July 19, 2011 3:21 PM:
I don't live in Joe Walsh's district anymore, but my family still does, and I was on the phone for over an hour last night with my sometimes conservative leaning sister who was so angry with Walsh and the GOP over the debt ceiling thing that I didn't think she'd ever calm down. I just called Walsh's office to thank him for pissing off his constituency with all this Tea Bagger debt ceiling craziness--it makes our job so much easier, doesn't it?
bardgal on July 19, 2011 4:46 PM:
Who is more evil:
Norquist or Murdoch?
Or are they fluffing each other?
zhongoj on July 20, 2011 5:09 AM:
--Something unexpected surprise--
Hello. My friend
http://www.jordansforking.com/
Dedi cated service, the new style, believing you will love it!!!
WE ACCEPT PYA PAL PAY MENT
YOU MUST NOT MISS IT!!!
thank you!!!