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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Mitch McConnell Just Proposed the “Pontius Pilate Pass the Buck Act of 2011″

Editor’s note: I decided to make the title less incendiary.

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Consider the Associated Press’s headline right now: “GOP Leader McConnell proposes giving Obama new power for automatic debt limit increase”

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Mitch McConnell is right now talking about making a historic capitulation. So fearful of being blamed for a default, McConnell is proposing a compromise that lets Barack Obama raise the debt ceiling without making any spending cuts at all.

Consider sending McConnell a weasel as testament to his treachery. His address is 601 W. Broadway, Room 630, Louisville, KY 40202 and the phone number is (502) 582-6304.

McConnell’s idea is to make the debt ceiling automatic unless Congress, by a 2/3 vote blocks the increase. Oh yes, he put a salve on it by dressing it up in tough talk that, to quote the Wall Street Journal, “[a] ‘eal solution’ to U.S. fiscal problems isn’t possible as long as President Barack Obama remains in office.” So since no “real solution” is possible, McConnell proposes to go Pontius Pilate and wash his hands of spending, blaming Obama while doing nothing himself.

Here is how the plan would work.

In a nutshell, the President would get to raise the debt ceiling three times in the next year at several billion bucks a pop without making any spending cuts unless two-thirds of both houses of Congress disagree. In his press conference, McConnell says he would not give the President “unilateral authority to make spending cuts on his own,” but this plan would allow the President to raise the debt ceiling pretty much automatically.As the Politico notes,

Senate Republicans are actively pursuing a new plan under which the debt ceiling would grow in three increments over the remainder of this Congress unless lawmakers approve a veto-proof resolution of disapproval.

In effect lawmakers would be surrendering the very power of approval that the GOP has used to force the debt crisis now. But by taking the disapproval route, Republicans can shift the onus more onto the White House and Democrats since a two-thirds majority will be needed to stop any increase that President Barack Obama requests.

Yes, instead of putting the burden on the White House, McConnell would make it damn near impossible to block a debt ceiling increase. We’ve seen this before. The House once had the Gephardt rule that required the debt ceiling vote be attached to a more popular measure so members of Congress could escape a tough vote.

Consequently, the debt ceiling has gone up to $14 trillion without Congress ever having to make a tough choice about debt.

And now Mitch McConnell wants to make it even easier by allowing Congress to go through a dog and pony show of feigned cuts that never get cut while allowing escalation of our national debt. So much for accusing Barack Obama of smoke and mirrors.

2014 cannot come soon enough to destroy the political future of this weasel.

Consider sending McConnell a weasel as testament to his treachery. His address is 601 W. Broadway, Room 630, Louisville, KY 40202 and the phone number is (502) 582-6304.

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Updated again: Changed to title to something less incendiary. I still encourage weasels be mailed.

UPDATE: Some of the most willfully ignorant and willfully naive McConnell supporters are coming out of the woodwork to say this is not *the* plan, but a contingency plan if *the* plan can’t be agreed to. So let’s get this straight: if Democrats won’t agree to make spending cuts, we’ll fall back to the contingency where they get to raise the debt ceiling without making spending cuts.

That’s not a contingency, that’s handing the Democrats a silver platter.

COMMENTS

  • http://www.firstchevalier.com Mark Malcolm

    The TARP vote a few years ago revealed the true character of many Main Stream Republicans. This situation should be no great shock to anyone who has been paying attention.

    Anyone who voted for TARP will back McConnell, and in turn show once again that they are NOT conservative.

    All I ask is that everyone PLEASE pay attention to who even speaks of supporting raising the debt ceiling, and vote them OUT at the very next opportunity.

    I will not compromise my beliefs anymore because ‘the alternative is worse’. Be conservative or be gone, and if that gives us four more of Hopey McChange the Health Insurance Clown, then so be it. I’m tired of getting flack from my lefty friends who through ‘Republicans’ in my face because they don’t know what a RINO is.

  • loganyung

    I doubt that a deal can be reached that will be satisfactory, so I think that the 2012 elections will be a referendum on debt and leadership. Between now and then, I think we need to have the House have a tight grip on the debt by doing the following:

    Pass a clean debt ceiling bill that funds the government at 2006 levels for 1 quarter at a time. Obama needs to figure out how he’s going to run the government at this reduced spend. He needs to be told that there will not be any more money. Repeat this until the election. Hold a press conference each quarter and say the following:

    We are putting the Government on a diet. Funding will be provided at 2006 spending levels between now and the 2012 elections, when the people will reaffirm how they want this country run.

    We expect that President Obama will be responsible and sign these bills so that the country doesn’t default on its loan obligations.

    We also expect that the Obama Administration will stop wasting your money and will use the funds that we’re providing to fund the required Government services. If the Administration decides to take money away from autistic kids to give it to their friends at Acorn, we will call them out. President Obama says that there is hundreds of billions of dollars of waste/fraud/abuse in Medicare that he can save, so, it’s time for him to do his job and find that wasted money.

    This is the first step in getting the fiscal house of the United States back in order.

  • sharp

    Who is out there to run against McConnell?

    What would it take to unseat him as leader, now?

  • littlehouse18

    -nt

  • baserunr

    depressing to be a Conservative. It must be so much easier to be a republican. ” I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, then I’ll get tired and sit down.” A tale of how not to negotiate. Spineless jellyfish. How suprpising.

  • Jim Tomasik

    ..

  • mkozikowski

    But, If he doesn’t carry you away, you MUST retire him.

    M. McConnell will do as his conscious dictates. We lead him on path. BUT, if he pushes this new addenda, we will most certainly have to retire him.

  • izoneguy

    Only a real House & Senate cleaning will do…..

    Many Republicans will be on the crap list as well as ALL democrats.

    They thought 2010 was tough…….

  • JimmyGee

    If you call the number listed in the post, you need to pick a town in his district, or they will put you on hold.
    Why is he, the supposed “Leader” of the Republican in the Senate, always the one that gives in first? Why? WE NEED TO PRIMARY THIS FOOL! When will he, and senators like him realize that the game of politics has been forever changed? When will he and others like him realize that they were never any good at “Negotiations,” the only difference being now the country cannot afford his incompetence?
    While Boehner is just as bad, at least he seems to be getting the tea-party message, and growing a pair.
    One other thing that really drives me crazy; they find out that I am not a constituent and put me in on-hold purgatory! When will all congressmen and senators realize that I, living in Wisconsin, have just as much right to express my views about their performance as my own elected officials? I know what they would say, I don’t vote for them, I am not their constituent, yada-yada. BUT, I CAN START UP A “PRIMARY OUT McCONNELL PAC” FROM MY STATE!! When will they figure that out?

  • uselogic

    and misdemeanors to his daughters and everyone else’s kids. What a freakin’ tool this guy is.

  • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil truth

    …if you’re going to write comments like this. For starters, you can’t impeach Congresscritters.

  • rightwingmom52

    Total cost: $5.60 and worth every penny. I just hope he can put 2 and 2 together to get the message because we all know he has difficulty with simple concepts.

  • http://trainwife1962.blogspot.com trainwife1962

    best 5.60 that I have ever spent. His phone number in KY is still busy!

  • loganyung

    The fax number for McConnell’s office is: (202) 224-2499. This can be found on his Senate Homepage:

    http://mcconnell.senate.gov/public/

  • dajeeps

    Perhaps it is just malicious acquiescence. I don’t really know for sure because seems like they are setting the president and his party up for a huge political liability (as if he doesn’t already have enough of them). I think most people understand we have a spending problem. I’m not sure they understand how bad it is and that there really is no time to waste. But we do have a little bit of time to deal with the problem when we can do so without so much obstruction, and get a deal that puts us on our way to actually solving the problem rather than the $4T cut over 10 years would have.

    I don’t want any more debt either, and it would have been nice if the Democrats could have gone along to do the right thing. But they do control most of the government still and since they are not interested in anything other than themselves we can see how far we’ll get with them. And we can argue all day about the meaning of the 14th amendment but when it comes down to it Obama doesn’t care what it says, will insist black is white and act accordingly until he is either voted out or impeached. He has already done that with so many other things that I don’t understand why there is any expectation he would acquiesce on this point. He has us over a barrel and he knows it – elections do have consequences and this is one of them.

  • rightwingmom52

    .

  • http://aposematic.wordpress.com aposematic

    McConnell has just guaranteed Obama’s reelection. The Dems will have plenty of borrowed/stolen taxpayer/future taxpayer money to buy the vote needed.

  • Ausonius

    He does not believe in the Power of the Internet! :)

    If we can get “Good-Bye McConnell” PAC’s going in the other 49 states, he might – but only might – respond, but I suspect he is too stuck in the loser/compromiser mind-set to change.

    The whole idea is a travesty: chalk it up to arteriosclerosis and/or Alzheimer’s, which is probably an insult to people with those diseases, since they would never come up with such idiocy.

    It takes talent to throw in 4 Aces when the other player is holding crap.

  • http://www.erickerickson.org Erick Erickson

    I don’t see how it can be constitutional. It would violate the presentment act, etc.

  • mustango

    Several of us did, did we not, ask, possibly rhetorically, why we even bother having a debt limit if the expectation is always that it will get raised. So I guess that’s getting put to the test now.

    I’m not reading anything about a tax increase in there either.

    Speaking for myself here, but I’m going to wait a few hours and see how this plays out before breaking out the pitchforks. My gut (which is admittedly one of the least reliable organs in my body) is telling me Obama & Co. aren’t going to be sold easily on this.

  • logoad

    You’re a great AMERICAN!

  • finishstrongdoc

    lower the water.

    The way we get from fiscal irresponsibility to fiscal soundness is to cut spending.

    The way you get across the river is to use the bridge. When the bridge goes out, don’t try to cross the river. You’ll drown.

  • smitch61

    I have nothing more to say. I hate the republican party more than I hate the democrat party. You cannot trust most of them. I am completely disgusted with their antics and game playing on the backs of the rest of us.

  • mecat212

    Well, you can’t contact Mitch McConnell’s local office because the mailbox is full. Gee, I wonder why!!!

    Have tried to call his Washington number at least 25 redials and constantly busy. I am sick and tired of the failure of these RINOS to take a stand. I hope the House hands their head to them on a pike.

  • lillieblue613

    Thanks for the link. I just sent my weasel and as I have Amazon Prime, it will be delivered Thursday. I am so tired of the Republicans becoming RINOS and ignoring the conservative base.

  • thewritejerry

    …but planning on seeing how I can help a real Republican or Tea Party candidate beat McConnell in his next primary.

    Think I’ll start by designing some “Ditch Mitch” posters…

  • http://barnettlaw.org Frozen_Man

    However, in any situation like this I always wonder if the Court would even take the case or will just use the Political Question Doctrine and stay out off it.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    And WORSE – they cave precisely because the Obama administration acted in bad faith! ….
    ” … the plan came about after the White House balked at some of the deficit savings that had already been identified over the course of negotiations led by Vice President Biden over the past two months.”

    ?What the leader and I have concluded after the meeting on Sunday and particularly the meeting yesterday is that the administration is now even walking away from agreements that we had tentatively made during the debt-limit talks with Vice President Biden,? Kyl said.

    SO NOW YOU WILL THROW IN THE TOWEL AND LET THESE GUYS MAKE THE DECISION AND IGNORE YOUR INPUT.

    Jeez, their desperation to throw away power is disturbing.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    “Some of the most willfully ignorant and willfully naive McConnell supporters are coming out of the woodwork to say this is not *the* plan, but a contingency plan if *the* plan can?t be agreed to. So let?s get this straight: if Democrats won?t agree to make spending cuts, we?ll fall back to the contingency where they get to raise the debt ceiling without making spending cuts.”

    THEY JUST GAVE THE DEMOCRATS MORE INCENTIVE TO DIG IN. PLEASE SHOOT THIS DOWN HOUSE REPUBLICANS!!!!

  • poiema

    This whole default idea if the debt ceiling isn’t increased is just a huge lie. An increased debt ceiling will only allow the government to continue to throw away our future. According to government reports the incoming revenues are more than adequate to pay the interest on the debt, pay the entitlements and pay government salaries. Most people when they are in debt up to their ears stop borrowing money and work out ways to get out from under the debt. The Democrats just keep spending and spending and spending. They have created the problem and now blame everyone else and still make no effort to solve the problem.

  • victrola

    I actually think Boehner is a really effective Speaker of the House, but McConnell is an embarrassment. This half-baked idea is politically stupid, bad policy, and probably not even Constitutional.

    We need to get rid of McConnell when we retake the Senate in 2012.

  • concap

    .

  • dnha14

    I disagree. A jacka** would be more appropriate, thought the packaging might be a bit messy.

  • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil truth

    ..we’re just noise in the system. One election does not change the culture of Washington.

    That said, sending weasels to McConnell is good political theater, and political theater in this media-dominated society certainly has a significant place within the spectrum of political action.

  • Common_Cents

    Who in DC lets an outdated document get in their way these days?

  • clarioncaller

    If this is true McConnell should be replaced as senate minority NOW..then recalled if that’s possible.

    I am beyond livid.

  • YnotNOW

    since I couldn’t get thru to McConnell’s number, I called my Democrat senators and told them that even they should not fall for such a lame idea.

    Of course they are Dems, so it probably won’t amount to a hill of beans, but they need to know their constituents are paying attention to this issue.

  • rightwingmom52

    and asked them to let McConnell know immediately that they will not support this plan. To nip it in the bud before it has time to get any traction at all. The staffers didn’t have to ask any questions – they knew exactly what I was talking about.

  • radicalrighty

    and relieve congress of decision making, let’s just go all the way and get rid of the legislative branch altogether.

    Now that would be “spending cuts” I could love . . .

  • concap

    was COMPROMISED away by the right.

    And in the last 60yrs by a so called Conservative.

    Just as cold is the absents of heat, so is it, Socialism is the absent of Freedom.

    Every compromise is a lose of Freedom’s and a gain for Socialism.

    You can not compromise your way to Freedom.

  • rightwardmarch

    According to government reports the incoming revenues are more than adequate to pay the interest on the debt, pay the entitlements and pay government salaries.

    Unless you are proposing zeroing out defense spending that statement is not even in the vicinity of reality.

  • aubie64

    It seems to me the debt ceiling is a joke. If it must be continually raised then the Congress is not doing its job, pure and simple. The budget is the means to control debt. That is how a family does it, get it Congress. If you don’t think the nation wants to increase its debt make the budget contol it. Why not let the market control debt. When interest rates go through the roof as they inevitably will; the Congress will have to control the budget because the interest on the debt will exceed revenues and taxes will have to be raised or spending cut. The family has to have more income if they can’t control expenses or afford the interest for increased debt if they can get a bank to loan them money at all. If a solution to the debt crises is to be found; ultimately, revenue and expenses must be balanced, at least, over some reasonable interval of time. Otherwise, some laws concerning the conservation of resources will have to be revised and I don’t think they are subject to revision.

  • apocomilitiaman

    Just found some money under the couch cushion Senator Mitch McConnell!

    Take his whole salary and every financial asset he has to pay down debt. Obviously, he no longer wants them. 3-steps is his 3 strikes!

    Primary this Mitch McConnell

  • tntech

    This guy is a lap dog and has been for years. He won’t cave to pressure from either side and will probably get reelected.

  • rightwardmarch

    There’s a mechanism for Congress to reign in government spending – its called the budget.

    Your idea is just a McConnell rehash. That is, push the decisions to the Dem president while throwing up your hands and hoping that he’ll get the blame. Meanwhile all the budget choices are being made by Obama. He gets to fund his priorities and cut where he can assure maximum blowback on conservatives.

    A 4 trillion reduction in the 10 year deficit is 100x better than abdication of responsibility for the sole purpose of future political gain.

  • apocomilitiaman

    Told them to take me off the donor list until Senator Mitch McConnell is removed from leadership positions.

    Called his office–too busy!

    Called my Senators in GA and requested they let Mitch or Mouse McConnell know he will be primaried for his ineptitude.

  • http://www.usdebateboard.com usdebateboard

    I hope Mitch is happy.

  • poquinn

    what is constitutional or not? All 3 branches have equal power and, thus, have equal say in interpreting the Constitution.

    We seem to have defaulted to letting the Supreme Court make that determination and, if they are so empowered, they are more powerful than the Presidency and the Congress combined.

    The bigger question is just how did McConnell get elected in the first place? No doubt his constituents were asleep at the wheel like so many of the rest of us for so long. Now that we are awake, we’ve got to call them on these practices at every turn.

  • madr

    Yeah! Who’s turn was it to take the bourbon away when Mitch imbibed too much?

    Really? Really? 2/3 vote! I believe there are enough “safe” uber-libs in both the Senate and House to safely vote on The One’s adult, enlightened debt raising decisions. Here buddy. Take the keys. Oh no, we won’t get any blame when you crash and burn.

  • adair

    payment to SS recipients, nor to military veterans. Well why not?

    He can jolly well issue Executive Orders to take care of any other item on which he and the Congress and their constituents disagree. Why won’t some of our really strong, brave Republicans call him on this totally cynical, disgusting threat?

    He dared well can guarantee those payments. I shouldn’t be surprised that McConnell would run shrieking from the room, flailing his arms over his head at the thought of all those seniors and vets believing the lying sack.

    Nor should anyone be surprised that McConnell’s idea of a clever parry is to hand Obama more than he was expecting. It really is a case of the Evil Party vs the Stupid Party.

    Pssst! Mitch! Did you happen to discuss this with anyone in the House?

  • poquinn

    We don’t have to do anything. Let 8/2 come and go without any deal and let Obama and the rest of the Dems figure out which entitlement program they’re not going to pay.

    They casued this mess by not passing a budget, when they had control of the House, not the Repubs. They still haven’t even proposed one.

    What everyone should be getting from this is that the MediCare money they’re being paid every month is being BORROWED. It was supposed to be put in the proverbial lock box but past Congresses spent it. They didn’t save it for the citizenry’s retirement as was supposed to be the plan.

    Even Obama came out today and said the coffers were empty and he couldn’t gurantee that MediCare and veteran aid recipients would be paid next month. WHY???!!!

  • manfred

    nt

  • http://barnettlaw.org Frozen_Man

    I didn’t say that the Supreme Court should rule on the matter. I think that they political question doctrine is a sound doctrine and one that should be followed. It doesn’t change the fact however, that if the proposed action is unconstitutional but the Legislative and the Executive branch want to do it anyway and the Judicial branch does not/cannot intercede the unconstitutional action will occur.

  • PubliusII

    Now I agree that, on first look, Sen. McConnell’s offer looks like total, uncoditional surrender.

    But consider this: Will the bond markets allow Pres. Obama to raise the debt ceiling without cutting spending? Or will the Administration’s attempt to use the authority McConnell is offering trigger a Greek style crisis here?

    McConnell’s political claculation may be as follows:

    1. Obama and the Democrats are fine with a train wreck on August 2. They will blame the Republicans for the impasse, claiming that Republican insistance on no tax increases caused the disaster. The Democrats will not mention that they won’t cut spending.

    2. The main stream media will relentlessly trumpet the Democratic spin. The MSM will ignore the Democrats’ refusal to make serious spending cuts.

    3. The bond market will react negatively, and the Democrats and their amen corner in the media will blame that disaster on the Republicans.

    4. Therefore, get the Republicans out of Obama’s way. Give Obama, Reid, Pelosi, etc. what they want: power to keep spending as fast as possible wihtout Republican interference.

    5. Congress will not block Obama’s spending, but all the Republicans can vote against that spending.

    6. But how will the bond markets react? If a Greece style disaster ensues, how can the Democrats blame the Republicans, who meekly gave Obama everything he asked for?

    7. Thus McConnell calculates that, although the Republicans cannot exercise fiscal discipline over the Administration, perhaps the bond markets can.

    Mr. Cianfrocca, we need you to weigh in.

  • loganyung

    If someone has a spending addiction, you don’t agree on a 10 year budget with them, and hand over a big pile of money. You’ll be facing the same issue the next year, but, with a much bigger debt. You put them on a monthly budget, and monitor it every month.

    Doesn’t a $4T cut in the next 10 years mean that after 10 years we will have accumulated yet another $5T or so in debt?

    With the current players in Congress, there is no way for legislation that is more than a few pages long to pass without additional egregious spending sneaked in.

  • izoneguy

    August unemployment will edge up and by the end of 2011 it will be a soild 10%.

    Obama can ask for tax hikes and raise the debt limit but we are still staring reality in the face. No politicians in DC want to deal with reality. They don’t have to meet a payroll or fire people when the work dries up. There won’t be any more taxes to collect.

    I predict 12% unemployment by the time the 2012 election rolls around.
    Obama can hide under his debt ceiling but it won’t save him.

    12 in 12

  • wgsampson

    end his own career? He talks a good game from time to time, but as soon as Obama played the Social Security card McConnell folded. The bottom line is that McConnell has just let the world know that he wants to raise the debt limit just as bad as Obama. That is evidence to his inability to govern without a blank check. This is the best he can do, while the House is scheduling a BBA vote next week. Boehner seems to have learned. McConnell can’t.

  • carolina

    No deal at all will be blamed on the GOP by the dems and the media.

    Give the dems enough rope…… and they will continue to hang themselves.

    I don’t understand all of the chess moves…… but McConnell is no fool. The GOP will not agree to raise taxes. period. If BO won’t give up his demand to raise taxes……. we are at a stalemate.

  • breen

    …we revise the McConnell plan by including a list of $4-6 Billion in possible sources of cuts (in near-year time-frames) that Bambi could choose from for each of his requested increases. Then, once chosen, the identified cuts would become law (unless overridden).

    This puts some teeth behind whatever he chooses to cut, and prevents silly shenanigans or smoke and mirrors from Zero when he proposes cuts to offset the increase in his credit card?

  • powertothepeople

    and it is the constitution itself that gave the Supreme Court the right to decide what is legal, what is not, what is constitutional, and what is a violation of the constitution. That is the power that was given to them to ensure the Congress or the President do not abuse the powers given to them.

  • Snertly

    The Party of No become the Party of No Responsibility.

  • runner12

    Republican is going along with this horrible idea. If they do, they are all done.

  • acat

    Unfortunately, I don’t see Kentucky getting up and doing just that … yet…

    Mew

  • unclefred

    – So Mitch has turned off his phone. Call YOUR Senator. Tell him/her that you want him/her to convey to Senator McConnell that his dodge is UNACCEPTABLE. We expect the Republicans in the Senate to hold the line. Period. If all 46 other Repubs in the Senate hear this message over the next 2 days they will push McConnell to drop this absirdity.

    It is a legislative body. Pressure on one in an instance like this is pressure on all.

  • gpclaw

    the damage will be done.

  • unclefred

    We can’t afford the train wreck. You may want to think about the end product of another 1-2 trillion dollars of debt in 2013. This is not just about political outcomes, although those outcomes are very important, it is also about stopping the hemorrhaging.

    The spending has to be curtailed NOW. I don’t expect this to be fixed until we hold both legislative bodies and the WH, but we have to restrain the spending as much as possible now.

  • rightwingmom52

    My husband asked me last night what I thought the market would do if we do not raise the debt ceiling and the U.S. defaults on its payments. Being the primary provider and man of our house, he worries about these things because of our retirement funds, savings, stocks, etc. (not much but don’t want to lose what we’ve got), specifically what the bond market thinks and what effect that will have. He felt better this am after reading that many financial analysts believe that the bottom line is that Obama & Geitner simply won’t let the default happen, despite their blustering about Armageddon.

    Any thoughts on this? If the U.S. actually defaulted, what effect would that have, specifically on the stock market? If the GOP refuses to raise the debt ceiling, what do you think Obama will actually do?

  • acat

    What else has he ever done? Government buys GM and shuts down redundant dealers .. based on who gave to the GOP….

    As for what he’ll actually do, I doubt he’d mess with Social Security unless he was very sure he could hang it on the GOP. Right now, I think it’s a trial balloon.

    My guess is he’ll furlough all workers, close non-essential departments, and mess with as many programs that benefit the GOP more than the Dems as possible – so the EPA will get shut down in Illinois, but not Texas….

    As for the markets – if supply and demand applies and if demand holds relatively steady, then the forced reduction in supply should mean an uptick in the value of the assets – i.e. bonds. This is well outside my area, so please don’t bet the farm or anything else on it.

    Mew

  • JSobieski

    The ratio of cuts that actually happen vs. cuts merely talked about will be low.

  • CrabCakes

    It looks like that McConnell took the hit so that Boehner didn’t have to. There are a lot more Tea Party Republicans in the House than the Senate, so it makes sense for McConnell to take it on the chin if the plan is to capitulate.

  • jim91010

    I am so ticked off reading this. We can not “strike a deal” with Obama so another group of RINOs will capitulate and give Obama what he wants. At the same time, the Republicans are showing that they will compromise principals.

    I am so sick of the leadership we elect!

    I attempt to refrain from personal attacks but Sarah and Michele have bigger ones than Mitch.

  • acat

    The practice of judicial review by federal courts, that is, of declaring laws, administrative rules, and executive orders to be in violation of the U.S. constitution and therefore null, is not expressly found in the constitution itself.

    I doubt, though, that anyone wants to re-open this particular kettle of fish, especially our constitutional-scholar-in-chief.

    Mew

  • bcochran1981

    addressed to Mitch “Weasel” McDonnell. Supposed to arrive on July 18.

  • acat

    Just sayin’ .. if Boehner thinks he can skate away from this, he’s been out in the sun too long!

    Mew

  • JSobieski

    However, this is the wrong way to do it. Passing legislation just to make Obama put detailed cuts on the table is pathetic. A decent PR campaign could make him do that.

    Something like, “lets see what Obama is really going to offer re: entitlement reform before we even discuss taxes” would work. Something like “I hope that Obama can inspire confidence by providing a detailed plan” would work.

    Shaming Obama is a good idea. Doing so while shaming yourself is stupid.

    The House needs to pass something that it thinks would be a good compromise. Let the Senate and Obama chew on that.

  • CrabCakes

    But it seems to me that Boehner realized that he didn’t have a hand to play, but he couldn’t convince enough House Republicans to cave. So he outsourced the job to McConnell, and he’s praying that House Republicans and, more importantly the Republican base, will see this as a capitulation to McConnell instead of to Obama.

    I have no idea if that narrative has legs, but that explanation seems to be the only reasonable one given McConnell’s announcement late in the news cycle and Boehner’s agreement to his proposal just a few hours later, but conveniently after the evening news had aired.

    Once again, though, it’s not my team, so I could well be missing something.

  • acat

    If Boehner thinks that he can make a deal and not pay a price for it, even if he manages to push some of the blame off on McConnell, he’s mistaken.

    Mew

  • carolina

    FY2012 starts 10/1/11.
    Hopefully the House is on schedule for the FY2012 budget. However, I have no faith in the Senate. hmmm

  • carolina

    BO will not cut anything in the next two years.
    We better pray the GOP takes the Senate, at least, in 2012.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    More precisely: if John Boehner is on-board on this – and the article doesn’t really say that he is, anyway – then I have not yet heard it.

    That’s not me being ‘Shaddap, Lefty’ about this, by the way. This is just me letting you know what my sources are telling me; or, more accurately, letting you know what my sources aren’t telling me. Which I flatter myself are better than TPM’s when it comes to the GOP leadership. :)

  • jaykali

    I agree that a ‘backup plan’ that is the democrat’s best option is not a very good backup plan. But wouldn’t it have to pass the house? Doesn’t sound like it will matter bc this isn’t going to be popular in the house

  • joecollins

    McConnel is an entrenched Washington power player. If the nation successfully hands the Senate back to the Repubs in the next election then this same Mitch McConnell might be Majority Leader. That is a scary scenario.

  • jaykali

    Ya and so can’t he propose some smoke and mirrors type of stuff that he will be lauded for in the press? The debt ceiling would get raised and he wouldn’t have to do anything tough, that’s what he wanted all along.

  • CrabCakes

    I was just noticed a lot of “Boehner will not let this stand!” here, and if TPM is right (which of course is not necessarily certain) then Boehner is hardly the white knight who is going to ride to the rescue.

    I trust your sources, though, so I’ll wash TPM’s report down with a big grain of salt until I hear more. An intra-GOP fight would be more fun than a GOP-leadership-mutual-derri?re-covering ceremony anyway.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    Just to make it clear, though: this is very much an ‘absence of evidence’ kind of situation. If it ever happens, it’d be the sort of thing that would be prefaced by the digital equivalent of an overpressure shockwave, for reasons that should be obvious.

  • David123

    The bill should contain the following elements.
    1. The debt limit should be enough to last another year
    2. The NLRB, which prevents jobs from being created, should be defunded entirely.
    3. The EPA, which does some good work, but also revents jobs from being created, should be funded at 50%. No EPA funding could be used to enforce any law or environmental regulation which was not already in effect on January 1, 2000. The EPA would be prohibited from regulating anything related to so-called climate change or global warming.
    4. Fuel economy standards should be frozen at what they were in January 1, 2000.

    No tax increases should be in the bill, and no other spending cuts should be in the bill.

    If the Senate wants to avert a debt crisis, they pass the same bill, or pass a darn good counter-proposal.

  • acat

    and many were elected in 2006…

    Taking the Senate away from ‘em is possible. We can’t slack off, but … it’s possible.

    Mew

  • AceInTX

    is their any hill worth dying on, is there any principle Mitch and Company won’t bargain away?

    he has long since proven that there is nothing he will make a fight on and he would sell not only his mother…but his wife, kids and grand kids to the vilest of characters as long as it will avoid a fight and a few unpleasant words.

  • Sheila_Frush

    we don’t have power to do anything… the House can’t do anything without the Senate’s stamp of approval, and the president has veto power… if he chooses, he can default and let all hell brake loose. He holds the cards because he is a crooked marxist who lies through his teeth on a daily basis.

    Is McConnel trying to hold the line until the elections so we can get a new man in the WH, and a majority in both houses so we can actually do something productive?

  • AceInTX

    by conservatives…I was one of them that fell into the…he’s better than the other guy trap and we put him where he is now so he can continue to stick the knife in and twist?

    Are we stupid for continuing to carry this rotten carrion to power like we did McConnell in 2008?

  • http://www.spartanburgteaparty.org karenmartin

    Pick a picture of a weasel, enlarge and print, and spend your day faxing …

    http://www.google.com/search?q=weasel+picture&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

  • AceInTX

  • riverdiver

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzGpK4plFqU

  • greycoat

    There is no fool like an old fool and that is what Mitch McConnell is. First he accepts, without question, the premise that there will be a default unless a deal is done. That premise is flawed. The nation is still getting revenue. The government will just have to make drastic cuts. I prefer the GOP refusing to even consider raising the debt ceiling. Perhaps the government just needs to tighten it’s belt and eliminate a major portion of itself, i.e. close down completely Federal agencies like the Dept. of Energy and Dept. of Education…and that is just for starters. You can always count on the GOP leadership to be the first to bend over and grab their ankles. Obama is playing them for a fool and idiots like McConnell make it easy.

  • Finrod

    The only way to evict them is by a 2/3rds vote of the Senate, for Senators, or the House, for Representatives.

  • Finrod

    Hitting the debt ceiling puts the ball in Obama’s court for deciding what gets funded and what doesn’t. Of course he’s going to fund what he wants to fund and cut the things that will make Republicans look the worst and blame it on them. Sure Republicans can object, but who’s got the National Deceivers known as the media on their side?

    McConnell’s plan at the least makes Democrats and Obama put themselves on record, in an election year, for growing the deficit and the debt– not once, but three times. It keeps the subject in the forefront, where it needs to be, at the time that the Democrats would dearly like it not to be. Personally, I’d love to get the huge spending cuts we all want and the country desperately needs, but elections have consequences. The consequence is that Democrats can block spending cuts without them ever being brought to a vote, and it’s difficult to hold individual Senators responsible without a vote.

    McConnell’s plan requires Obama to submit spending cuts. This puts him on the record, to either propose things to be cut, or to not cut things and thus be directly responsible for the ensuing debt. Either way, it gives the GOP ammo to be used against him in the 2012 election, and we need all the ammo we can get.

    Yes, it’s a crap sandwich, but that’s what the country gets for voting for Democrats in 2006 and 2008. If we don’t want the country to vote for Democrats in 2012, we need to force Democrats to vote and propose, and McConnell’s plan at least somewhat does that.

  • clarioncaller

    Have the House pass a 1 month budget.The budget funds all necessary functions including Social Security. A 1 month increase in the debt limit is included…along with a corresponding amount in budget cuts. The bill is sent to the Senate and President. It is their action that will cause a shutdown.

    Do this every month until January 2013 when the new president takes office.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    nt

  • http://www.redstate.com/jcrestonm jcrestonm

    Maybe they can be the first husband and wife combo in the Senate

  • http://www.redstate.com/jcrestonm jcrestonm

    Downtown Louisville, KY had a water main break and many businesses were closed today due to a boiled water advisory and no waterpower in the high rise buildings. I highly doubt his staff even went to work today at the office in Louisville.

    http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2011307120050

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    -nt-

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    “Something like, ?lets see what Obama is really going to offer re: entitlement reform before we even discuss taxes? would work. Something like ?I hope that Obama can inspire confidence by providing a detailed plan? would work.” ”

    Correct!

    Cantor and other have challenged Obama on this. What the Democrat did was behind Cantor’s back share it to the media. The Democrats and the media are tag-teaming to win the PR war for Obama, spinning madly.

    you know what is sad? It is REAL simple for the GOP.
    1. Pay a spending cut +debt celing bill in the House. DO IT NOW.
    2. Go into negotiations and say “Our position is #1, before we do anything or talk about any proposal, pass it in the senate, and we will work from there.”

    END OF STORY.

    This ‘strategy’ of meeting daily with the president, as part of the president’s own bid for re-election and partaking in a Kabuki theatre negotiation, is pathetic and hapless, giving the President far more power than he deserves. He does not legislate. the Congress does. Why give the president the power of legislation? All obama has is a veto pen. Does he want to vetoe a debt ceiling increase just because it doesnt have exactly what he wants? MAKE MY DAY!

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    McConnell ‘pass the buck’ TAKES POWER FROM CONSERVATIVES.

    That’s why we need to be hopping mad about this. We only have two leverage points – the House majority and enough GOP Senators to maintain a filibuster.

    McConnell just threw in his hand in a hissy fit over Obama not being fair and nice. Politics aint beanbag, and McConnell lacked the cohones to stand firm … and just after he made a very stong statement that explained what end is up.

  • mikeevergreen

    This is a great way to describe the McConnell plan.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    McConnell?s plan at the least makes Democrats and Obama put themselves on record, in an election year, for growing the deficit and the debt”

    Hello, McFly! That is exactly what the Democrats had in 2010. yes, it was good for the GOP politically, but that was because candidates – remember them – promised to repeal Obamacare cut spending, and get teh government under control.

    Not a SINGLE candidate ran on ‘lets give President Obama more power to make all the spending decisions” NOT ONE.

    This means that and GOP vote for this is a BROKEN CAMPAIGN PROMISE.

    McConnell’s pass-the-buck is a split-the-GOP RINO move to the max. Its a complete cavein. ALL IT DOES is put the President on the record … well, hello, Obama IS ALREADY ON THE RECORD. His statements, his budget plans, all the rest. Eveen the smoke and mirrors proposals.

    We dont need mcconells bad idea to get Obama on the record.

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    McConnell.

    Or his dad for that matter.

  • audax

    nt

  • Finrod

    We don’t need McConnell’s bad idea to get Obama on the record.

    So how do you propose to get Obama on the record then, instead of letting him just sit back and slamming everything Republicans propose?

    Remember, the media will cover for Obama; we can’t count on a fair fight here.

  • geah

    and I am still on S.S. afraid? no I am not, I have a small safety net, if all hell breaks loose so be it, yet I feel sorry for those who live so close to nothing it breaks my heart, Is there a person in DC who understands that all the fuss is heard in the purse of the poor rather than the ears and both parties are so careless with purse,health and home of so many it takes ones breath away. While they are insured, after leaving office they get perks that would keep normal people in good welfare. Obama is giving mega money to a southern nation to drill. Egypt is getting money along with many middle eastern countries , Israel gets money but that nation repays so I will leave her out, what is given away would keep all our infrastructure paid and the{ middle class} worry free. saying nothing of the poorest of the poor and those who fall into the cracks of finance, not poor and never enough to live well.

  • kliff

    whole heartedly. You can’t effectively battle an opponent without when you are eaten up with cancer within. ‘Neville’ McConnell is as big a threat to our republic as Obamanure. I would suggest that it is time to bombard our Senators with demands to replace McChamberlain as minority leader.

  • themarathonman

    and voted out at his last election. He has always been a wimpy jellyfish that Reid and the dems have manipulated for years….

    That being said, I can see McConnell’s endgame here. It appears to me that, IN MCCONNELL’S MIND, if the GOP cannot, or will not, stand up to Soetoro on this issue, giving him sole control of the debt ceiling switch can then be used as yet another issue against Soetoro in the 2012 election.

    Interesting political maneuver on the surface, as it gives ownership of the debt issue exclusively to Soetoro and his minions, assuming Soetoro is stupid enough to bite, which I don’t think he will. Therefore, McConnell is throwing this out there as a no-lose situation in his mind to tempt Soetoro, while continuing to seek political cover behind Boehner and Cantor. McConnell knows that any bill involving the debt ceiling has to originate in the House, so whatever Boehner and Cantor decide to do he is going to vote for in the Senate anyway. So he gets the Erick Ericksons of the world stirred up temporarily, but in reality its a pig in a poke.

    Everyone knows giving Soetoro control of the debt ceiling is the most dangerous game, given the fact that Barry wants to convert this country to European Socialism by fiat. McConnell is throwing that option out there as a political football, and is then running and hiding behind his House compadres, who have true control of the negotiations. Spineless jellyfish indeed.

  • dnha14

    I take back my disparaging comments regarding Sen. McConnell that I made yesterday. After listening and reading a number of commentators, both poro and con, I have come to the conclusion that we will not get what we want with control of only one house of Congress. We need patience and McConnell’s plan firmly puts the responsibility for the debt ceiling and the increasing debt squarely on Obama. I would rather run on that in 2012 than any of the other scenarios, where Republicans start to take more of the political blame. Give it to Obama. Let him drown in his own creation. It is the best result we can expect with our limited resources (one house) until after 2012 where we have a better chance of gaining more power to actually make the changes we need. Saddle Obama with the responsibility. Do not let him off the hook. The country will not go bankrupt before 2012.

  • dnha14

    I take back my disparaging comments regarding Sen. McConnell that I made yesterday. After listening and reading a number of commentators, both pro and con, I have come to the conclusion that we will not get what we want with control of only one house of Congress. We need patience and McConnell’s plan firmly puts the responsibility for the debt ceiling and the increasing debt squarely on Obama. I would rather run on that in 2012 than any of the other scenarios, where Republicans start to take more of the political blame. Give it to Obama. Let him drown in his own creation. It is the best result we can expect with our limited resources (one house) until after 2012 where we have a better chance of gaining more power to actually make the changes we need. Saddle Obama with the responsibility. Do not let him off the hook. The country will not go bankrupt before 2012.

  • JSobieski

    The idea that on August 3rd the government will somehow have no liquidity is laughable. If our side can make that point clear enough, we can convince the mushy middle that Obama is lying.

    From their build outward and focus on Obama’s failure to actually propose definitive cuts in anything besides defense.

    The debt ceiling will need to be raised, but I don’t think the Republicans will get a decent deal without letting the August 2nd deadline pass. To get the best deal, you essentially need to plan on cutting it sometime in mid/late August. Before that, we shortchange ourselves. After that, it could blow up in our faces.

  • funwithknives

    They all got stings,with poison and to use them is instictive and automatic, to a JAY-FISH. What is instinctive to Mitch? Diving for cover and doing NADA. Please, in the future use An Appropriate Animal Metaphor. POSSUM, perhaps? Some form of DEAD MEAT would be agreeable, even believable. Submitted From the Jellyfish Appreciation Society; “Doing Good Works and what God intended, for millions of years”

  • funwithknives

    Compromise is the way to ruin and what got us to this moment in time. Progressives use this term like a club and like seeming male nerd morons, who want a date with MISS POPULARITY, we always fall for it again. The word should always bring GOP leaders up short to consider: “What is it, THEY Are Giving up?” A Peanuts cartoon is more instructive politically, than 1000 conservative speeches. Make them state what THEY give up and the silence will speak ,loudly. Getting along is always bandied about as a way to good government. But yet that is “our normal” and look where we are. “Time for a little bud-nippin”.

  • rick57

    Paul Rand should let the people of KY know exactly what this means. Get his grass roots organizations there that worked for him to re-call McConnell quite really one of the biggest idiot RINOS ever to bear the republican logo, along with just the same McCain.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    and he probably doesn’t want to leave Texas. I know _I_ wouldn’t trade Texas for Kentucky.

  • http://www.trommetter.com/log/ Jason

    Mitch McConnell’s strategy might be to give Obama enough rope to hang himself? Let Barack really show the American people that he’s just a tax-and-spend liberal and doesn’t mean anything he’s saying right now about spending cuts and deficit reduction. Then, no matter who the GOP nominates they’re all but assured a win next November.