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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

A Quick Note to House Republicans

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  July 22nd, 2011 at 10:34 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Cut, Cap, and Balance failed in the United States Senate with four votes shy of 50. The vote was 51-46 to table.

Hold the freaking line.

You only need four votes in the Senate to have a majority.

You do not need Plan B. You do not need to negotiate. You do not need to play Washington politics as usual. That got us to this point.

You have a plan that 2/3 of the American public supports. You have a plan that lets the President raise the debt ceiling.

That sounds like a compromise to me.

Hold the line. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Don’t deal.

Fight on.

The only other thing the House should do is a prioritization bill in anticipation of August 3rd.

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COMMENTS

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  • charliesalmanack

    ….the House GOP ought to pass “Cut, Cap, and Balance” again. Only this time increase the size of the cuts by about $100 billion over 10 years, and about $5 – $10 billion next year.

    Send a message: the price of non-compliance is only going to go up.

  • steve010

    Boehner offers a short term 500 to 900 deal with real spending cuts and sends it to the Senate. If they won’t vote on that then it’s time to play some power games like Treasury bring to us your receipts one at a time and we’ll decide whether to pay for it or not. The (D)’s will look back on CCB and say why the heck didn’t we agree to that. But at any rate when Aug 2 rolls around and the great swath of Americans see that Armagedon didn’t visit and all is well, things will be good for the Tea party.

  • altexas

    I was thinking reduce the time to a balanced budget to 9 years but either way. Prove we can negotiate in good faith. tighten the screws.

  • chbroussard

    This is how I used to deal with my kids. If they got in trouble and were grounded for a week, if they argued about it, the grounding time became two weeks. It took a couple of times, but they soon learned that arguing was only going to cost them more. And face it, we ARE dealing with children here.

  • BA Cyclone

    Hold the line.

    EVEN BETTER:

    RAISE the stakes. We are ALL-IN for Cut, Cap, Balance!

    We got your back GOP, do not fold now!

  • MNConservative

    The debt limit increase isn’t just a compromise, it’s a sell out.

  • preeder

    A colleague of mine just mentioned that they have to do something else SS checks wouldn’t get sent. Yeah, Aug. 2nd can’t get here soon enough.

  • Matt In The Hook

    Honestly, I have no idea how you think that doing something like will A) win people over to our side and B) produce any tangible result.

    I know Erick has been trumpeting the idea that “we hold all the cards but just don’t know it” but that’s utter nonsense. We don’t hold all the cards. Politically speaking we have a weaker hand but we do have the spine to push a bunch of chips into the middle. That’s good. That is what will help drive a better short-term deal.

    CCB is just not going to pass the Senate. I agree with Sen. Coburn that Obama would sign it if it got to his desk, but the Senate is not going to pass it.

    There needs to be a very quiet plan B. The public move should be to hammer CCB constantly, sure. But if there’s no plan B then our leadership is just as bad as theirs.

    What’s stunning to me is that the Senate Dems have yet to hold a vote on their plan, whatever the hell it is. Publicly the House should say “we’ve passed out plan, and you’ve rejected it. What’s your plan then?” and go crazy with that message. That gives us a stronger hand for the backroom negotiations, especially if it picks up steam with the public.

    In the end, we’d be wise to take a $3T in cuts with no revenues and use Obama and the Dems fundamental lack of seriousness to deal with the debt in any long-term fashion and use it has a cudgel for 2012. All the while, of course, the House should do nothing other than repeatedly pass bills to address the problem and demand votes in the Senate on them even after this fight is called to a halt for now.

  • oldbird77

    . . . is that all we aren’t even talking about reducing the debt. How can we continue to be a prosperous republic if we continue to borrow money at this rate? How is a balanced budget controversial? How can anyone offer up a deal that only reduces the amount we ADD to the debt down from recklessly insane to insanely reckless? The “compromise” deals should be laughed out of the room.

  • sarg01

    … we need to pick up 4 seats in the Senate in 2012. Of course, we also need to get rid of the guy with the veto.

    We can get everything we want – we just can’t get it this summer.

  • runner12

    kept this from being voted on. The GOP should be blasting the Dems for blocking this vote. They should be pounding them regarding their lack of willingness to even begin to address the debt we are in. Absolutely ridiculous. Cut, Cap, and Balance is a reasonable compromise that the Dems should jump at.

    To the House I would say, hold the line. You just need to pick off four more votes and if you keep up the pressure, than you might just get it to a vote or better yet, passed.

  • jeffreywturner

    Assuming on 97 Senators vote, you only need 49 to have a majority.

  • altexas

    Trying to save a Nation.

    The heroes of thje Alamo were not trying to win over Santa Anna or his troops.

    We have the right plan and don’t need another. We can stick with it and wait for Obama or his minions to present a plan. They will not.

    If Obama chooses to not send out Social Security checks etc., it is his decision. We have sent the Senate a budget that Harry Reid refuses to put to a vote. Harry rushed this vote to avoid debate and political pressure he knew would ensue. Let it ensue now. Force the issue. Draw the line in the sand.

  • mjdzfun

    In for a penny, in for a pound. Hold the line.

  • http://whattoreadtoday.blogspot.com/ Paula

    They don’t want this debated on the floor of the senate. They want it done in a smoky backroom where there’s no record of who made what deal with whom. That way everyone (on both sides) has cover and can blame the other side.

  • KC

    I urge Boehner and McConnell to tell their membership to go play golf, and not come back until Obama and the Dems put THEIR plan on the table.

    And not a plan that comes in the form of a speech, a two-sentence press release, or on the back of a napkin. I mean a REAL plan that includes REAL specifics with REAL details, and REAL numbers.

    Obama and the Dems are masters at telling us what they are AGAINST – but narry a peep on what they are FOR.

    The GOP leadership should drop the whole problem right in Obama’s lap and head to the golf course.

  • chbroussard

    It seems to me that most of the time that Republicans compromise with Democrats, we end up getting the short end of the stick. The 2010 election should have been a message that the American people are tired of the over spending with no accountability. When Republicans betrayed us in 2006 and 2008 they paid at the polls. So here we go again. Can’t we all just get along? We’ve tried that and now we’re in debt up to our eyeballs and miillions of people can’t find a job. I for one am ready for a different approach.

  • chbroussard

    It seems to me that most of the time that Republicans compromise with Democrats, we end up getting the short end of the stick. The 2010 election should have been a message that the American people are tired of the over spending with no accountability. When Republicans betrayed us in 2006 and 2008 they paid at the polls. So here we go again. Can’t we all just get along? We’ve tried that and now we’re in debt up to our eyeballs and miillions of people can’t find a job. I for one am ready for a different approach.

  • charlesmartel

    …when Obama hasn’t offered a Plan A? That’s not how negotiations are supposed to work. One side offers something, the other rejects and makes a counteroffer. You don’t offer something, have it rejected and then offer something else that’s worse for you. At least make the Dems put something on paper before we sell out.

  • http://jhpruitt.blogtownhall.com/ kipling

    The motion to table the bill tells me that Harry Reid knows that if the bill goes up for a vote, it will pass. Even if he is not certain it will pass, he is uneasy about trying to hold the Democrats together in the face of public scrutiny and pressure.

    If Reid is certain of its defeat then why not simply allow an up or down vote and ensure its failure. The reason is that he has a weaker hand here.

  • Viator

    Breaking: Senate Tables Cut, Cap, and Balance

    “In an unsurprisingly dirty trick to avoid the optics of making his Democratic caucus vote to filibuster a bill supported by two thirds of Americans and that includes a balanced budget amendment they previously supported, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called a vote this morning to simply table the House plan to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending in order to avoid a historic default.

    The party line vote was 51 to 46 in favor of tabling. While I didn?t expect the twenty Senate Democrats that were previously on the record in support of a balanced budget amendment to keep their word, I did expect a handful of moderate Democrats to at least allow the plan to be debated and amended (if not out of principle, at least out of a recognition of the electoral consequences of opposing fiscal responsibility).”

    “The Senate, on a motion to table brought by Harry Reid, just killed the Cut, Cap & Balance Bill passed in the House without any floor debate.

    Unlike a motion for closure, which would have required a day of floor debate, Harry Reid managed to kill the bill without any television clips of Senators staking out their positions.

    Since there is no other plan proposed by anyone, including Senate Democrats and Obama, this leaves the nation with no plan to deal with the debt ceiling.

    Mark Knoller of CBS News tweets that having killed the bill, Harry Reid has decided that the Senate should take the weekend off:

    http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/07/senate-dems-kill-cut-cap-balance-bill-leave-nation-with-no-plan/

  • steve010

    The House holds all the cards here. Tax increases can’t originate in the Senate. He is going to wait for a bill from the House. The House leadership will come up with some kind of short term extension, so that this spending debate doesn’t go away. Real cuts (no tax increases) will have to be included especially for 2012. If BHO, says no and says that its now up to the executive branch to take over and he ignores the House on spending, he is toast.

  • alreadyexists

    History teaches us that bad legislation is always announced late on a Friday so that it misses the evening newscasts and dies in the Saturday news cycle. My guess is that they have planned the announcement of the sell-out compromise for next Friday, July 29th, with the President set to sign the bill on Monday August 1st. It will likely be a short term extension of about 3 months and be accompanied by about $500 billion in claimed budget cuts. When the smoke clears, there will be $2 billion in real cuts for the 2012 budget, and all the rest of the “claimed” cuts will occur in obscure future reductions in the rate of increase of government spending. This will be the 2011 budget modification redux and Boehner will use his crying jag to plead for sympathy and forgiveness. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for another march on Washington.

  • http://jhpruitt.blogtownhall.com/ kipling

    Reid moved to table the bill. He did not defeat the bill or kill it. He simply tabled it.

    Now, unless I am wrong on Senate rules, a bill that has been tabled can be revived easier than a bill that has been defeated. Perhaps, and I say perhaps, Reid did not want to kill the bill but did want to keep it in play in case the whole situation went south for the Democrats and the House held the line.

    For instance, let us say the House held the line and the Democrats continued to fumble along until August 1. Pressure on the Democrats would be great to avoid the catastrophe they have promised. Obama does not care but the Senate Democrats do. Reid can then simply untable the bill and allow a vote. He can then claim to be the one who saved the day by allowing a vote on a bad bill but one that raised the debt ceiling and avoided catastrophe.

  • steve010

    Because he has the check book, The Senate can’t sign the cks and the President can’t sign the cks. He has been saying all along that there will be no default. No default, no default, no default. Because he can decide now, which bills get paid. Unless the executive branch decides to ignore the House and proceed on its own. Either way this whole thing has been a brilliant play by the House leadership. There won’t be any capitulation because there isn’t enough time to get a tax bill through the House. If BHO doesn’t go for the short term extension then Boehner can decide which bills get paid. Perfect.

  • charliesalmanack

    ….if they are going to give Obama an extention, fromt-load the cuts.

    We’re not interested in fake cuts that get “scored” as such by CBO.

    And we’re not interested in cuts that would have happened anyway (e.g. the reduction in spending for the ME wars).

    Obviously the easy thing to do is to throw in the “fluff” that Biden agreed to in the original talks. It’s exactly the wrong approach. We want less cash going out the door for discretionary government programs and departments starting immediately upon the signing of any short-term extention.

    Any GOP congressional reps or staff members who may be reading, take note: the country is literally at stake. You have the moral high ground, and if you show spine against this establishment media onslought you’ll also have the Tea Party behind you. Our money and our time.

    Get back on offense, and be very, very aggressive in pursuing further cuts.

  • lizfstone

    …says CCB is ‘weak and senseless.’ I guess it takes one to know one.

  • steve010

    They may want to go with CCB after they see the alternative.

    The House leadership could demand that Paul Ryan’s people get a printout from Treasury on exactly what bills need to be paid in Aug, then decide on a number below what they want and say this is all you get for Aug, let us know how much you need for Sept and will go through that and do it every month. This might be messy, but it’s in keeping with the Constitution.

  • Wayne

    nt

  • altexas

    He knows the word of Obama means nothing. He knows that when this bill passes the Senate, (and it will,) Obama will sign it.

  • MNConservative

    If 2/3 of Americans support CCB, it’s only because they like the sound of the name and they’re still trusting the Republicans.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/20/fox-news-poll-majority-against-raising-debt-ceiling/

    I wonder how many of those 2/3 of Americans realize that CCB includes a $2.4 Trillion debt ceiling increase?

  • Finrod

    *BLAM* “Anyone else want to negotiate?”

  • Finrod

    It’s time for Senate Republicans to show what they’re made of and simply shut down the whole freaking Senate until CCB comes back up onto the floor.

    To quote from The Fifth Element again, “You want to play it easy, I’ll play it easy. You want to play it hard, let’s play it hard.”

  • http://jhpruitt.blogtownhall.com/ kipling

    then why not pass it to get the debt ceiling raised. Reid is beginning to come unglued.

  • BA Cyclone

    If Reid thinks this version is weak, I stand by the above comments, the GOP should raise the stakes!

    More cuts, or a more agressive phase-in schedule for cuts. They can let us know when they’ve had enough by passing the bill on to the President.

  • BA Cyclone

    If Reid thinks this version is weak, I stand by the above comments, the GOP should raise the stakes!

    More cuts, or a more agressive phase-in schedule for cuts. They can let us know when they’ve had enough by passing the bill on to the President.

  • Kyle-MI

    Can’t imagine that the good voters of the very red NE will be too happy about this.

    On a more serious note, I think it is time to consider a backup plan which should be short term ceiling raises with front loaded spending cuts. With the intransigence of both parties, this problem can only be settled at the ballot box. We can only have a long term meaningful solution when the voters put one party or the other in complete control. With the polls indicating popular support for CCB and the political weakness of the Dems, the likely outcome should be GOP control.

  • Marcus_Traianus

    By the way, I am a bit at a loss as to how the issue of tax increases in this economic climate can’t be defended as cataclysmic and destructive to our future well-being? Isn’t this what we have said all along?

    So we will cut a deal and accept what we have said to be destructive to avoid…destruction from the lack of a debt increase?

    You’ll forgive me if I chortle while opining that Boehner is either the king of hyperbole, mendacious or prefers a slow, painful death of our nation as opposed to a battle in which, if we hold firm, we guarantee her existence into perpetuity.

    Once Boehner’s deal is finalized I can’t wait to hear how he explains this issue. It will undermine everything we stand for with the American people and divide the caucus.

    Somebody dust off the “Mission Accomplished” sign.

  • steve010

    McCain didn’t vote, not sure why. Gillibrand and Kerry didn’t vote and they would be a no on final passage. so 4 votes are needed. Nelson (NE) would be one, possible votes also are Conrad, Lieberman, maybe Tim Johnson, Manchin, Pryor (AR) and Tester. So, there are seven possible votes if their constituents lean on them hard. CCB isn’t dead by a long shot.

  • mkozikowski

    In all polls taken recently, the marjority of Americans are stating that the Conservative House vote on Cut,Cap and Balance must stand.

    It should be simple to see that if it does not, a lot of Republicans and Lib/Dems are going to lose their jobs in just over a year.

    This will NOT go away with time. We The People drew a line in the sand last November. We expect it to be regarded as the last chance.

  • sarg01

    It was a party line vote. Presumably 2 Dems and 1 Rep were not present to vote. The Senate split is 53-47 or 51-47-1-1, depending on how you count the “independents”.

    50 isn’t going to do it with Biden holding the tiebreaker, so you need 4 to get from 47 to 51. I really see only three members of the oppo who would vote for Balance short of a literal gun to the head – Lieberman, Nelson and Manchin. The rest of them would vote to eliminate the Constitution entirely before they’d vote to balance the budget.

  • glaucon

    A solution to the current budget issue passed the House and was blocked by Senate Democrats. Where is the infamous “political blame”? Mitch McConnell wanted to sell us (and the Congress) out by relinquishing the power to increase the debt ceiling to Obama. The rational is that the “political blame” would be on Obama.

    Well, the political blame is on the Senate Democrats today for rejecting a reasonable solution. What did that buy us? Front page news in the mainstream media? Not quite.

  • snowshooze

    We have them on the run, and the imaginary deadline of August 2nd is looming large.
    Just out of generosity and our general good nature, I agree we should offer them an option.
    — CCB II —
    One that does not include a 10 year plan in a one year budget.
    Immediate bone crushing cuts to attain an instant balanced budget with a requirement to begin making principle payments on the debt, and no debt ceiling increase.
    Then, they could look them over and see which one they preferred.

    I have nothing but disdain for a 10 year plan in a 1 year budget.
    That plan would get out the open window faster than a canary.

    They are on the run. Do we actually have to chase them down to surrender?

  • rightwingmom52

    I talked to one of Sen. Sessions’ staffers. He said it’s unlikely to come back up and that they were “reeling” from the vote. Not sure what the next step is or how we can even get it to the floor for another vote.

  • sarg01

    I’m hearing the congressional Dems are livid – “volcanic” was the word the Senator Mikulski (D-Maryland/DC Metro) used. Of course, it’s just talk so far, but it’s not talk about tax increases.

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    It is the Democrat bloated government that shuts down on D-Day.

    They are the ones desperate to keep the checks flowing to their bought and paid for voters.

    Only only dificulty is making sure Obama gets credit for any failure on his part to ensure Social Security, Military pay and Debt service checks go out.

    We have the money, we can prove it.

    If we tie that around his neck even the yellow dogs won’t play with him..

  • glaucon

    It needs to be clear that Cut, Cap and Balance was a compromise. The real medicine for our fiscal woes are massive cuts in Federal spending, which was not part of Cut, Cap and Balance.

    Every day major companies layoff employees to reduce costs. The Federal government needs a 20% layoff and a 50% budget cut. Tomorrow. And that would probably still not be enough. The government is filled with highly paid bureaucrats and paper pushers. Money is thrown away to crony contractors on worthless and overpriced projects. No private sector company could survive the waste that exists in the Federal government.

  • snowshooze

    Just when we are in spitting distance.
    Who was it said..” Not time to retreat, RELOAD! ”
    That is the attitude we have to hold.
    Remember, if your strategy is to win on appeal, you will be sitting in jail waiting for it.
    If the Democrats manage to destroy the credibility of the Republicans at this point, and they do not stand firm…. well… the next election could be catastrophic.
    This is the single worst time I have ever seen to start getting chummy and start talking compromise. You don’t do that when the opposition is on the ropes, unless you really want to lose. Are you expecting them to shake hands and get along?
    It’s like a gunfight… there is no second place winner.

  • sarg01

    Boehner gets no say in what bills are paid unless he can get the Senate to agree, and the Pres not to veto.

    Absent legislation, the Department of the Treasury makes the call, and they work for Obama.

  • sarg01

    An election sweep isn’t winning on appeal. It’s winning the war.

    Put all both houses and the Presidency in the control of a Tea Party-fueled GOP, and there’s nothing the progressives can do to stop wholesale changes.

    Get stuck with the “cutting Social Security to pay for corporate jets” bull and there won’t be an election sweep.

    It took 70 years of liberalism to get to this point. No one piece of legislation will get us out, no matter how big the cuts. If we don’t sweep the elections, the Dems will put the spending right back in 2 years.

  • snowshooze

    Unless we blow it now.
    I would hate to take a chance. And I can’t see any reason to negotiate a victory into a loss.

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    And generally agree with it.
    BUT
    If we don’t give the left something we won’t get the Balanced Budget Amendment side of this accomplished.

    I don’t want to saddle my kids with $0.10 more worth of debt but at some point the Dems WILL regain control and at that point $2.4 Trillion may seem like a bargain price for a hard limit on spending.

    Not to mention the super-majority requirement for raising taxes.

    Absent the Balance Budget Amendment I would not raise the limit, period.

    All the rest of CCB is smoke and mirrors of no effect.

  • mkozikowski

    debate.

    In fact they weren’t even included in the dealing.

    “If you want to know what is in it. you have to pass the vote.”

    Dems get the warm fuzzy that they avoided default. That is more than enough for the likes of them.

  • steve010

    Maybe I?m not alone, but it seems crazy to me that the (D)s in the Senate and BHO are still on the need new taxes pot in order to raise the debt ceiling.

    There is no tax bill being discussed in the Ways and Means Committee, there never has been a discussion of raising taxes in the Biden talks and the tax thing just came up about 3 weeks ago.

    Why would they wait until now to insist on a tax increase to raise the debt ceiling when no one has been discussing this all along? Even Harry Reid said after the tabling of the CCB that the Senate could have the weekend off because they have to wait to get a bill from the House because the Constitution requires the tax bills to originate in the House. I thought July 22nd was the drop dead date?

    It?s like the scene in ?Blazing Saddles? where Bart threatens to shoot himself if the townspeople don?t drop their guns while threatening to kill him. ?He?s just crazy enough to do it!?. It?s like the (D)s are saying, ?Ok, HofR keep sending us bills that we vote down until you send us one that we?ll pass. Even though, we won?t be able to pay all our bills in 11 days. Oh, and by the way, we?re taking two days off.? and BHO is over in Maryland talking to a bunch of college kids who don’t want to lose their college grants. What is wrong with this picture?

  • steve010

    it can still come up again in this Congress that doesn’t end until Dec. 2012 was 51 to 46.

    McCain didn’t vote, Gillibrand and Kerry didn’t vote. All the other (D)’s voted to table and all the (R)s voted not to table.

  • steve010

    the executive branch has to ask the House to allow them to borrow the balance. There is no time period or amt requirement. The House could raise the debt ceiling everyday for a certain amount if it wanted to. What we have been talking about here is borrowed money, not the funds that come in anyway. If the House votes to raise the debt ceiling by a certain amount and the Senate votes it down or the President vetoes, then they can’t borrow any money. That seems pretty stupid. It’s like my son saying, “Dad, I want to borrow a thousand. then I say, all I can lend you is 500. then he says, well, then I don’t need anything” Doesn’t make sense.

  • baserunr

    It is driving me crazy that all that gets talked about is “We’re cutting ‘X’ Trillion from the deficit” when that is factually untrue! Under all of these plans, the deficits persist, and the debt grows larger! I can live with that under CCB, since there is a cap and Constitutional mechanism to put the brakes on spending and debt accumulation. A normal person would think “Well, we were at $14.3T, and since they are cutting $3T in 10 years, we’ll only be in debt $11.3T then!” That’s not what is happening, and it would be great if someone could get a soundbite to that effect into the Debt Conversation.

  • http://www.rightproadvisors.com erinmist

    Finally someone expressed what I’ve been thinking all along. Why aren’t there 100,000 of us standing outside of Capitol Hill demanding Cut Cap and Balance???

    The Tea Party movement needs to revisit its roots, a popular wave of ACTION against the Establishment of both parties that will do nothing but sell this country down the river for 30 pieces of silver to line their pockets. Only when they SAW us did things begin to change.

    Now that we’re just constituents writing letters and making phone calls — which they freely ignore — they no longer “fear” us, as if they believe we have no where to go.

    Sadly, it’s too late to organize a rally that big at this late hour, and even the Tea Party movement has grown complacent in its acquiescence to the inevitable sell-out that will come from the GOP, and the accelerated destruction of the Republic at the hands of Senate Democrats and the man now objectively the worst President in this nation’s history.

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics

    I mean give them a carrot to pass the BBA.

    Otherwise as we saw today they say no.

    They didn’t involve us in the ObamneyCare debate because they didn’t need us to pass it.

    We can’t just pass the BBA over the Senate’s objections.

    Giving them one last increase is the only way we are likely to get the BBA.

    Forcing them to do it is a petrified carrot across the nose.

    2012 won’t do it either. Even if it is a good year we will not reach 67 in the Senate. And if we did reach 67 we would find out certain RINOs will vote no when they hold the balance.

    Just like they always screw everything up.

    Forcing Harry to pass it out of the Senate now means finding and ensuring the votes is HIS problem if he wants his precious debt ceiling increase.

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

    For the Democrats, their policy goal is Big Government.

    Their political goal is to muddy the waters and make the differences on tax-and-spend diluted. They want to tag the GOP as tax hikers, to defuse the Democrat charge of the same. Barring that, they want the ‘kill medicare’ and ‘they are for the rich’ attacks front and center.

    Their very partisan and uncompromising treatment of CCB is proof enough that CCB does NOT give them the Big Government OR the talking points they want.

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

    Come on, Senators, shows some spine. Let’s get real. Senator Reid didn’t want it and put the screws on his own caucus to vote no. Why is this a surprise. We STILL have a majority of members of Congress FOR this bill and NO alternative out there.

    My gawd, it feels like we have victims of Stockholm syndrome in the Senate.

    We know the next step: A short-term alternative that is spending-cuts only and $500 billion debt raise.

  • snowshooze

    So if the House stands firm and does not deal out… and sticks with CCB…
    The House would call the shots? Is that the final outcome of CCB or bust and the Dems call bust?

  • victrola

    For exactly votes like this. Even the “RINO” Senators towed the party line on this vote, and I have ZERO doubt that had we nominated some more electable Senate candidates for the 2010 wave, we could have forced this bill on to Obama’s desk and dared him to veto it.

  • dilligas

    Yes, seriously. The only Plan B should be the prioritization bill to distribute incoming revenue appropriately. Of which, the first item is servicing the debt to avoid default.

    And, I suppose, the second item on the list, unless they recall ALL service men and women back stateside before Aug. 2nd, is the military (or at least those not stateside and their support infrastructure that may be stateside).

    After that, then I think the negotiations can start as to the remaining priorities until the money runs out for the month. Then, rinse, lather, and repeat ad naseum until the spenders get it into their head that real (spending) reform must occur.

    I’ve mentioned before, but I’ll say it again. In my opionion, until the President and congress critters start talking budget cuts of at least $1 trillion per year, none of them are serious.

  • dilligas

    should be “opinion”… spelling > me some days

    Although, perhaps an opionion is just an opinion that may make someone cry?

  • YnotNOW

    then the Dem caucus would filibuster. Their worldview will NOT allow them to shrink government (at least not significantly and permanently). That is an issue they will fall on their swords over.

  • dilligas

    Since the senate doesn’t want to discuss it, the house needs to send him a prioritization bill for spending should Aug 3rd come without a debt ceiling increase.

    Then the Republicans should grab any available microphone and indicate that the senate refuses to even discuss the house passed CCB bill and because of that, to avoid default, they also sent a spending prioritization bill to ensure that the US does not dedault on it’s debt. And since I know it would happen, that the prioritization bill would ensure that social security and medicare checks are sent out.

    Then let the Democrats and the President explain why they don’t want either one of these to pass.

  • YnotNOW

    And we should not pretend that it is anywhere close to closing the budget deficit. Sure, there is opportunity, but it is not enough. Governent needs a 40% budget cut. That means that many “good” things that the government does WE CANNOT AFFORD. it will hurt. Be ready to eat your peas, Mr President.

  • dilligas

    With $1.4 to $1.6 trillion in deficit spending, until I hear $1 trillion in budget cuts per year starting immediately, I have a hard time taking any of the 536 seriously.

    I would dearly love to have a president that would champion this cause, vetoing any budget sent to him with deficit spending. And then if congress does override the veto, opt not to spend it anyway. Just because it’s been appropriated, doesn’t mean it has to be spent.

    See this administration is all about hope and change. I’m now full of hope that it will change.

  • dilligas

    If it is so weak and senseless, bring it to the floor, provide the amendments to make it strong and sensible, then pass it. Then, send it back to the house where they can act accordingly.

  • gpclaw

    and neither party was mentioned. No trickery or salesmanship going on, only a majority of Americans who support a BBA.

    23. In another proposal, Congress would raise the debt ceiling only if a balanced budget amendment
    were passed by both houses of Congress and substantial spending cuts and caps on future spending
    were approved. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?
    July 18-20
    2011
    Favor 66%
    Oppose 33%
    No opinion 1%

  • gpclaw

    and talking to everyone that they can, on why we need to pass a BBA. In the end, public support will be what matters. CCB has strong public support, but the media will work to tear that support down. By engaging the voters directly, those in support of a BBA can keep public support strong, which can lead to one of two outcomes:A) The left tries to salvage a win by voting for CCB, and trumpeting their debt ceiling increase, or B) the August 3 deadline comes and goes with no deal in place, and the left takes the heat for what ever consequences come to pass.

  • rightwingmom52

    Not that Sen. Sessions was “reeling.” I think it’s fair to say that those who are actually fighting like DeMint and Sessions are entitled to feel as discouraged as we are since it appears their “friends” in the Senate don’t always have their backs.

    I called back later and confirmed that Sessions is working with DeMint to try to get the bill to the floor again for another vote.

  • LISA BULLOCK-HOCK

    Erick is right, by allowing the debt ceiling to be increased is a compromise, but the Dems want to raise taxes–(their new code word is “revenue”), and they don’t want to cut welfare/medicaid, they still want to buy votes. They want another foolish “bi-partisan” solution, like the 2011 budget, where no real cuts were made. It was accounting trickery only. The GOP got slammed for being so dumb and easily fooled.

    Obama and the dems want everything to be a “crisis” that way they can shove everything down our throats. It really needs to stop. GOP does need to hold the line and not give in on this one. Some un-informed people will blame them, but like I always say–if you are uninformed please stay at home on election day.

  • victrola

    And my understanding is certain budgetary bills only need a simple majority, they can use “reconciliation” to pass.

  • RealQuiet

    Gang of 6 plan cannot be written and put together soon enough. Only plan out there is the GOP plan that passed the House. Dems can’t defend themselves unless they put a bill out there and let the public weigh it Problem is, they can’t put one out that is fiscally responsible since it would anger their base. Oh, the squirming in the chairs.

  • snowshooze

    If one of the GOP contenders took this and started pushing real hard…
    it might be THE issue.
    And it looks like Perry is latching right on.

  • snowshooze

    An excellent strategy.

  • snowshooze

    It would be a good thing.

  • Viator

    The left has a long, long tradition of taking to the streets. They have experienced people who can be made available to work full time organizing such efforts and networks to mobilize people. (And even billionaires to fund it)

    The right has no such tradition although some attempts have been made recently. Many on the right actually have jobs and even families.
    I think the right needs to consider how to incorporate mobilization in their bag of tools.

  • Viator

    I agree with some of the comments, it will be 14th Amendment time. Clinton said it, others have hinted it.

    What is the response to that?

  • steve010

    third option all along. Yesterday, in his speech to the students he threw out a trial balloon on it. He said that his “lawyers” were against the action, but he never said he wouldn’t do it.

    The best thing for the GOP would be for him to say, I’m going to ignore the HoR and do it on my own. This would totally doom his chance for re-election. He could never recover from placing himself in the role of the Imperial Presidency.

  • steve010

    because they are holding all the cards. The other side can only sell FEAR at this point. And here FEAR is an acronym which stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. There is no reality to the default crap and that the debt won’t get serviced and the cuts that the House is looking for isn’t even 3% of the spending and probably not a whole lot in 2012. Don’t cave.

  • steve010

    that the newly elected house is playing for keeps. Obama comes out on the Friday night press conference and acts like a spoiled 9 year old who didn’t get her way. and there were only about 20 reporters there (no big names) that were kind of ho-humm about BHO’s rantings. Not the kind of reception a President wants at a news conference.

  • carolynr

    While I watch the unbelievable press conference of the president…I thought to myself…why is someone so opposed to this CC&B bill. Then it came to me. Obamacare is nothing more than a tax…and if they have to cap spending and balance the budget…Obamacare goes out the window. That is why Obama was unwilling to even look at it and that is why is was tabled FOR A NON VOTE.

    Bean counters…investigators…I think I hit the nail on the head. This CC&B might also kill Dodd Frank and his ridiculous solar panel energy bill.