House Speaker John Boehner held a Conference Call tonight with House Republicans to describe to them the Debt Limit Deal reached between President Obama and leaders of Congress. Dave Wiegel over at Slate has a transcript of Boehner’s opening remarks on the call:
SLATE: The press has been filled with reports all day about an agreement. There’s no agreement until we’ve talked to you. There is a framework in place that would cut spending by a larger amount than we raise the debt limit, and cap future spending to limit the growth of government. It would do so without any job-killing tax hikes. And it would also guarantee the American people the vote they have been denied in both chambers on a balanced budget amendment, while creating, I think, some new incentives for past opponents of a BBA to support it.
My hope would be to file it and have it on the floor as soon as possible. I realize that’s not ideal, and I apologize for it. But after I go through it, you’ll realize it’s pretty much the framework we’ve been operating in.
Since Day One of this Congress, we’ve gone toe-to-toe with the Obama Administration and the Democrat-controlled Senate on behalf of our people we were sent here to represent.
Remember how this all started: the White House demanded a “clean” debt limit hike with no spending cuts and reforms attached. We stuck together, and frankly made them give up on that.
Then they shifted to demanding a “balanced” approach – equal parts spending cuts and tax hikes. With this framework, they’ve given up on that, too.
I’m gonna tell you, this has been a long battle – we’ve fought valiantly – and frankly we’ve done it by listening to the American people. And as a result, our framework is now on the table that will end this crisis in a manner that meets our principles of smaller government.
Now listen, this isn’t the greatest deal in the world. But it shows how much we’ve changed the terms of the debate in this town.
There is nothing in this framework that violates our principles. It’s all spending cuts. The White House bid to raise taxes has been shut down. And as I vowed back in May – when everyone thought I was crazy for saying it – every dollar of debt limit increase will be matched by more than a dollar of spending cuts. And in doing this, we’ve stopping a job-killing national default that none of us wanted.
(MSNBC) WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama announced on Sunday that Democrats and Republicans leaders have reached an agreement to reduce the U.S. deficit and avoid default.
Obama said the agreement will cut about $1 trillion over 10 years.
The bipartisan plan will be presented to Congress on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.
“Leaders from both parties and in both chambers will present this agreement to our caucuses tomorrow,” Reid said on the Senate floor.
“To pass this settlement, we’ll need the support of Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate. There is no way either party, in either chamber, can do this alone.”
Here is video of CNN Anchor Don Lemon conducting an “interview” with GOP Sen. Rand Paul on the ongoing Debt Limit struggle. Actually, Lemon was totally unprofessional and condesending toward Paul, telling him at the outset he didn’t want to hear “talking points,” while he himself spouted one Democrat Talking Point after another!
Throughout the interview, Lemon interrupted Paul, especially when Paul was giving answers he did not agree with! At one point he literally shouted Paul down to cut off his answer and ask another question. Paul held his ground, and did well in a very difficult environment.
Here is video of President Obama’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – Admiral Mike Mullen – telling worried U.S. Troops in Afghanistan that he is “not sure” whether they and their families will get their pay if a Debt Deal does not get done by August 2. A soldier point blank asked Mullen about it, and he responded:
“I actually don’t know the answer.”
Well, Mullen ought to know the answer, because our Commander-in-Chief should have long ago made it crystal clear that our Military, Veterans, as well as Social Security payments and Medicare payments will go out with no interruption even if a deal is not reached! He can do that because money will still be flowing into the Government and those payments can easily be made with money left over. Other things can go unpaid if necessary, but not the military.
But President Obama has repeatedly used our men and women in uniform, as well as the elderly, as leverage in this battle with Republicans. His ought to be ashamed of himself that any American Soldier serving in harm’s way would have to worry about whether their family will get their paycheck.
It’s time for President Obama to tell the truth and make it clear our troops don’t need to worry about being paid.
Here is video of NBC’s Chuck Todd describing the contours of the compromise deal being worked out right now between President Obama and Congressional Leaders to raise the U.S. Debt Ceiling.
Todd says the deal is “very, very close,” but not yet done. The problem could be getting Democrats on board, even more than Republicans. Todd said they are talking about “only cuts” – which is not setting well with Democrats, who wanted tax increases as part of a deal. Todd said Republican leaders believe they can get around 180 GOP votes in the House, meaning they would need only around 40 Democrats to approve it in the Senate.
Some kind of very short-term (a few days) extension is possible first, while the final details of this deal get hammered out.
On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Jon Kyl goes after the Tea Party members in the House who say they are “standing on principle” by voting against raising the debt ceiling. Kyl said they remind him “a lot of Senator Barack Obama, who did the same thing, voting against the debt ceiling increase when he was in the senate.”
Via a Powerline contest, here is a song that tells the truth, that in the end of all this “Debt-Ceiling” madness – “You’re Gonna Pay, cause someone’s got to.”
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