There have been a series of meetings today to discuss the situation on the shutdown and debt limit. Some headlines from this afternoon, if you’re just catching up:
Reuters reports Senators close in on deal as threat of default nears:
The plan under discussion would raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling by enough to cover the nation’s borrowing needs at least through mid-February 2014, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
It also would fund government operations through the middle of January, keeping in place the across-the-board “sequester” spending cuts that took effect in March. It would also set up a new round of budget talks that would try to strike a bargain by year’s end.
Any deal would also have to win approval in the House of Representatives, where conservative Republicans have insisted that any continued government funding must include measures to undercut President Barack Obama’s signature health law – a nonstarter for Democrats.
The deal would not resolve the disagreements over long-term spending and health care that led to the crisis in the first place. It would amount to a clear retreat for Republicans who have sought to tie any continued funding and borrowing authority to measures that would undercut Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
Earlier this afternoon, Obama postponed a meeting with congressional leaders, “to allow leaders in the Senate time to continue making important progress towards a solution that raises the debt limit and reopens the government.” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) also cited progress after meeting with a bipartisan group of senators. (I suppose that depends upon how one defines “progress.”)
This is all very fluid, so who knows what will change in the next few hours.
Senate Republicans had planned to meet tonight, but that has since been moved to tomorrow morning.
Apparently, this is also supposed to be news:
Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell don’t get along. That’s a major hurdle to a fiscal deal.
Although, CNN is a little bit more polite in its take:
For Senate leaders, bitter history morphs into working relationship on deal.
I suppose it’s wait and see on what House Republicans will say.
And then of course, there are the polls.
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Comments
If you cannot believe what the media reports as news, why would you believe the media when it speculates?
Case in point: “… It would amount to a clear retreat for Republicans who have sought to tie any continued funding and borrowing authority to measures that would undercut Obama’s Affordable Care Act.”
The Republican House has already compromised on their position on PPACA from defunding it, followed by delaying the individual mandate just as Obamac delayed the enployer mandate until their current position which is merely requirng no special treatment for federal employees wrt Obamacare. Does the media think that including federal workers “undercut” the program?
Exactly.
Has Boehner caved yet?
The fix is in.
This is a Senate deal and it is being stage managed to create as much fear and uncertainty as possible. To be followed by a ‘last minute’ ‘ultimatum’ for Boehner; either he allows 20 or so RINO squishes to side with the Democrats or he is the sole person blamed for a ‘default.’
And the worst part about it is that Boehner is in on the charade.
The only real question is what did the Senators promise him in return? My guess is his own lobbying firm.
So can we stop this sham?
Not without being part of the Beltway “Greek Chorus”.
Any poll Cillizza touts is a lie.
This gov’t will have the most tax revenue to spend this year of any gov’t in the history of the world.
They will still over-spend by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Any effort on the part of House Repubs to limit spending is to be commended and deserves support.
Obama and his enablers have looted and pillaged with impunity and without restraint aided by Republicans.
They won’t stop until they are made to stop. The Republicans won’t do it; they are in on the action.
So, I’ll be curious to hear if this has happened elsewhere in the military. Our youngest son is in Boot Camp and unfortunately he didn’t go into detail. It seems that the morning after the government shutdown started, his platoon arrived at the mess hall for breakfast only to find the doors locked. He didn’t tell us how the situation was resolved, but that same day he withdrew a couple hundred dollars from his bank account.
Under normal circumstances, as a mother who knows you have to let your children grow up and survive on their own, I wouldn’t be too upset. Except, during boot camp, a soldier is not at liberty to do things like procure and prepare their own nutritious meals (to replace the calories that are being burned). And of course, their means of communicating with the outside world regarding those circumstances is limited to letters only.
Our son is also fortunate that he has earned and saved money for many years and has no debts or dependents to be paid. Using his own funds to purchase meals isn’t a hardship for him. And with 4 years of culinary courses and 12 years of learning how to hunt and field dress under his belt, if he had a key to the kitchens the rest of his platoon wouldn’t have to worry about meals either.
I will be curious to hear if this is a one off incident or if it’s happening elsewhere.
MRE, and this would have never happened if the chow halls were still run by the military.
I’ve heard and said alot about chow hall food but I don’t remember ever hearing or saying the word nutritious. In boot camp I don’t remember having time to taste or determine what was put on my plate.
Is that the sound of a can I hear? Let’s see…
1. Raise the debt ceiling again to
2. cover borrowing (spending) needs
3. keeping in place sequester (defense) cuts and
3. set up a new round of budget talks (yawn) that
4. might (sure) result in a bargain.
What are the chances a collection of so many suckers would congregate in such a small place all at once. It’s like the inside of a P. T. Barnum venue.
The only reassuring news is that McConnell and Reid don’t get along. The sooner more people don’t get along with Reid, the sooner something positive might happen.
We hired these people, THEY WORK FOR US.
Republicans first lost when they compromised with Democrats who proceeded to demonstrate that they negotiated in bad faith. Do people seriously not understand the consequences of trillion dollar deficits, and that those consequences are not limited to America or Americans? Do they support a progressive devaluation of capital and labor, and the formation of authoritarian monopolies?
If the Republicans are polling poorly, it’s only because the corruption in this nation is overwhelming. That is to say the “fish” has rotted from the head, the tail, and is now consuming the body.
Man, did this whole affair expose just who is who – even to the most dense GOP supporters.
But there isn’t anyone — left or rignt — who doesn’t know what a poor excuse for a House Speaker John Boehner is.
The longer we take to dump him, the more horrific damage he does.
I suppose they want to keep their personal Obamacare new tax funded piggy banks. Another money laundering scam.
across-the-board “sequester” spending cuts That’s a joke right? Only to a liberal spendthrift is a reduction of a demanded budget increase from 7 to 8% down to 3 to 4% increase a cut. Not one dime was cut YOY from 2012 to 2013 as a result of the Sequestor, not one dime but in fact spending increased across the board by 3 to 4% for 2013.
And they wonder why we are attaching strings to any debt limit increase much less demanding a negotiation over the 2014 budget? The liberals are spending addicts and are need of rehab.