BREAKING: Obama Rejects GOP’s Proposal For Short-Term Debt Limit Plan…

BREAKING: Obama Rejects GOP’s Proposal For Short-Term Debt Limit Plan…

Woah.

Via: Weasel Zippers

Morning Bell: 6 Reasons Why the National Debt Keeps Rising

Out-of-control spending by Congress and the Obama Administration has once again maxed out the latest debt limit—a nearly $17 trillion burden that harms job growth, gives special interests a pass, and lowers American families’ personal income.

Inspired by Dave Ramsey’s recent post “6 Reasons People Stay in Debt,” we compiled six reasons why Members of Congress, the Obama Administration, and others in Washington avoid the path to financial stability in favor of big spending…

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1. They want to keep up appearances.

The truth is, ever-growing entitlement programs drive ever-greater government spending. Everyone knows it. Some leaders in both parties have even worked together on first-step solutions agreeable to both sides. Yet rather than risk Warren Buffett’s taxpayer-funded benefits decreasing, politicians pretend America’s national budget can handle all the extensive promises they’ve made over the past several decades.

Via: The Foundry

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Obama to Boehner: No Deal on Debt Limit, Defunding Obamacare

President Barack Obama called House Speaker John Boehner late Friday and reiterated that he would not negotiate with Congress on raising the debt limit, a Boehner representative told Newsmax.

"The president called the speaker this evening to tell him he wouldn't negotiate with him on the debt limit," the spokesman said in a statement. "Given the long history of using debt limit increases to achieve bipartisan deficit reduction and economic reforms, the speaker was disappointed, but told the president that the two chambers of Congress will chart the path ahead.

"It was a brief call," the Boehner spokesman said.

The president also called House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the White House said.

"The president telephoned Speaker Boehner and told him again that the full faith and credit of the United States should not and will not be subject to negotiation," an administration official told Politico in a statement. "The president reiterated that it is the constitutional responsibility of the U.S. Congress to pass the nation's budget and pay the nation’s bills."

Editor's Note: Should ObamaCare Be Defunded? Vote in Urgent National Poll 

Obama's calls came as the House of Representatives voted to temporarily finance the federal government while defunding Obamacare. The 230-189 vote set up a showdown with the Senate and the White House.

House Republicans said on Wednesday they were preparing legislation to raise the government's $16.7 trillion debt limit.

Leaders have said that they were considering including such options as blocking Obama administration plans to curb coal ash pollution; forcing civil servants to contribute more to their retirement plans; requiring Congress to approve many major regulations; and defunding Obamacare for a year.

Obama has said he wants Congress to send him legislation that simply extends the debt limit and has said that he will not negotiate the matter.

The government is expected to exhaust its borrowing authority by late October. That would threaten a first-ever federal default, which many analysts believe would deal a severe blow to the economy.

Via: Newsmax

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What You Need to Know About the Debt Limit

The Congressional Budget Office just dropped a budget update on Washington, and it’s not good. The U.S. government is spending recklessly—and Obamacare is adding fuel to the fire.

The new report comes at a crucial time, as negotiations over the debt limit are starting up again. Here are some basics to help you cut through all the political spin.

What is the debt limit?

Yes, it’s the legal limit on federal government borrowing—but the debt limit is a wake-up call. It’s a chance for Congress and the President to stop the spending insanity.

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Why does it matter?

Government spending is accelerating with no end in sight as long as entitlement programs keep expanding.

Via: The Foundry

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Treasury: We’ve Kept Debt Exactly $16,699,396,000,000 For 4 Months

Thanks for making me look good!!!

(CNSNews.com) - At 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury released its daily statement revealing how the accounts of the federal government stood as of the close of business on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

According to this official accounting,  the federal government's debt that is subject to a legal limit set by Congress stood at exactly $16,699,396,000,000 at that hour yesterday.

That marked the fourth straight month that the U.S. government’s debt has ended up at exactly $16,699,396,000,000 at the close of each business day.

Coincidentally, $16,699,396,000,000 is about $25 million below the legal limit on the debt—which is currently set by law at $16,699,421,095,673.60.

If at the close of any business day, the debt were to slip just $26 million higher, it would exceed the legal limit.

Instead, at the close of every business day since May 17, the debt has remained just $25 million below the limit.

This is despite the fact that the Treasury has continued to sell more Treasury securities than it is redeeming and to run massive deficits.

In May, the month the Treasury froze the debt subject to the legal limit at $16,699,396,000,000, the federal government ran a deficit of $138.732 billion for the month, according to the Treasury’s monthly statement.  In June, the Treasury said the government ran a one-month surplus of $116.501. But then it ran a deficit of $97.597 billion in July and $147.923 billion in August.

Via: CNS News

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Obama: GOP using debt limit to 'extort' me over budget

President Barack Obama turned to business leaders on Wednesday ahead of brewing fiscal fights, urging them to oppose GOP efforts to link raising the debt limit to further spending cuts and entitlement reforms.

“You have never seen in the history of the United States the debt ceiling being used to extort a president or a governing party,” Obama said in a speech to the Business Roundtable.

The White House and Congress face two looming deadlines. Lawmakers must pass a spending bill to prevent a government shutdown on October 1 and two weeks later must raise the nation's borrowing limit to avoid a default.

House Republicans, though, are moving ahead with plans to defund Obamacare in their spending bill, a measure likely dead on arrival in the Senate. GOP lawmakers also want Obama to agree to more spending cuts before signing off on increasing the debt ceiling.

Obama told the nation’s top corporate executives that strategy would wreak havoc on the economy.

The president argued that Republicans are making a phony argument, and said that the debt ceiling applies to past spending not future budget decisions.

“Initially, this was an argument about how much we spend,” Obama said of his Republican rivals. “That’s no longer the argument. What we now have is an ideological fight that has been mounted in the House of Representatives.”

Speaker John Boehner’s office rejected the president’s criticism, pointing out that as a senator, Obama had opposed raising the debt ceiling in 2006.

The White House has repeatedly said that Obama now regrets that vote.

In an effort to gain leverage over Republicans, Obama has sought to focus on the impact the next round of fiscal debates have on the public.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Obama insists on no negotiations over debt limit

His way or the Highway??? NO WAY!!!!

This is a strange position to hold. Most voters understand that the debt limit has always been a source of negotiations - even when Democrats ran the House. And given that cutting the budget is very popular, it would appear that if Obama thinks he's standing on principle in not negotiating, it's not going to win him any points with the people.

Reuters:

President Barack Obama warned Republicans in Congress on Monday that he will not negotiate over an extension of the U.S. debt ceiling as part of a budget battle that will soon dominate Washington, with a deadline fast approaching.

The U.S. Treasury is expected to exhaust measures to avoid exceeding the $16.7 trillion debt limit as soon as mid-October. If the cap is not raised, the United States will not be able to pay all of its bills and would go into default.

Pivoting to domestic policy after devoting weeks to the crisis in Syria, Obama scolded his political opponents for threatening a federal government shutdown and attempting to attach conditions to funding the budget for the 2014 fiscal year that begins October 1.

Via: American Thinker

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Obama to warn GOP in economy speech ahead of debt ceiling, shutdown battles

President Barack Obama is marking the fifth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse by trying to lay claim to an economic turnaround and warning Republicans against moves that he contends would risk a backslide.

His message to the GOP: Don't oppose raising the nation's debt limit, don't threaten to close down the government in a budget fight, and don't push to delay the health care law or starve it of federal money.

The economic emphasis, after weeks devoted to the Syrian crisis, begins coming into focus in a series of events kicked off by a Rose Garden speech Monday. It's a determined effort to confront public skepticism about his stewardship of the economy and to put down his marker for budget clashes with Congress in the weeks ahead.

The White House argues that a better capitalized and better regulated financial sector is extending more credit, fueling an economy now able to withstand headwinds such as spending cuts and tax increases.

"You can draw this straight line from the health of the financial system to the ways the financial system impacts the economy," said Jason Furman, the chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

Obama can point to a growing economy, rising housing prices, 35 straight months of hiring, a rebounding stock market and other signs of recovery.

Five years after the federal government stepped in and infused banks with $245 billion in taxpayer money to avert a financial meltdown, the government has been paid back nearly in full.

Via: Fox News

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Hoyer: GOP Will Shoot Its 'Own Child' if Dems Don't 'Pay Ransom' on Debt Ceiling

Using a bizarre analogy, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) accused Republicans of being willing to "take their own child hostage" and “shoot [their] own child" if Democrats do not agree to federal spending cuts in exchange for GOP support in raising the debt ceiling.

The federal government is slated to reach its $16.69 trillion borrowing limit by early September.

"In effect, what they're doing is they're taking their own child hostage, their child in this case being the United States of America's credit, taking their own child hostage, and  telling us (Democrats), ‘If you don't pay ransom, we're gonna shoot our own child'," Hoyer told reporters at a press briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

"Republicans talk about what they want to get from us in order to vote for the debt limit extension. The problem with that, of course, is that almost all the Republican leaders have said that defaulting on the debt is an unacceptable alternative," Hoyer added.

Hoyer, the number two Democrat in the House, also criticized a Republican proposal by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to defund Obamacare by not including money for the controversial health care law in any continuing resolution to keep the government running.

Via: CNS News

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