“With an anxious eye toward the coming debt-ceiling negotiations, House Republicans are drafting what members call a ‘menu’ of mandatory spending cuts to offer the White House in exchange for raising the country’s borrowing limit.”
“This menu is more a matrix of politically fraught options for the Obama administration to consider: Go small on cuts and get a short extension of the debt ceiling. Go big – by agreeing to privatize Social Security, for example – and get a deal that will raise the ceiling for the rest of Obama’s term.”
“It’s a strategy meant to show the GOP is ready to deal. But even conservatives admit that this gambit might do little to help them avoid blame should the negotiations reach a crisis stage.”
The country’s improved economy, which brings in more revenue, and the raising of the taxes on the rich, has delayed the moment of reaching the debt limit for most of this year. But eventually, this fall, it will have to be raised again. Hopefully the President sticks to his guns as he has since the 2011 debt ceiling sequester deal, in that he says he will not negotiate on the debt limit. Either Congress raises the limit or it gets the blame for the untold disaster that occurs if it is not raised. I will tell you one thing, the second that Democrats regain control of the House, the first order of business is to do away with this arbitrary debt ceiling one and for all by passing legislation that says the Fed must always pay the nation’s debts.
Otherwise, the internets are pretty quiet with political news this holiday weekend. I hope you all are enjoying yours.