Max Pappas at Freedom Works has the best summation of why Republicans in the House of Representatives should not take Bill Kristol’s advice: Supported a “moderate” stimulus: “I would have supported a moderate stimulus.” Saw nothing wrong with the spending in the stimulus bill: “If Obama wants a stimulus, Republicans will give it to him tomorrow. It’s the president’s and the Democrats’ insistence on incorporating | Read More »
So now we have the closing arguments. The Wall Street Journal calls conservatives hobbits. I’d point out that the hobbits won. Bill Kristol calls conservatives “pro-Obama.” And now John Boehner tells Republicans to get their “asses in line.” To quote General McAuliffe, “NUTS” Hold the line. When the Congressional Budget Office is saying that Harry Reid’s plan actually cuts more money than John Boehner’s even | Read More »
The Kristol fans want to know how our hand improves if we reject the Boehner plan. First, it is worth pointing out what Bill Kristol noted back at the first part of July: “It sounds as if it’s heading towards a deal,” Kristol said. “It’s not a deal that I’m going to like I suspect, and think I it’s going to be a bad deal | Read More »
Consider that John Boehner and Harry Reid named their different legislation to raise the debt ceiling by the identical name. Consider also that John Boehner and Harry Reid’s legislation are virtually mirror images to each other — a fact that the rhetoric has obscured, but is in reality accurate. Consider, in fact, that Boehner and Reid use the same language in various portions of their | Read More »
I’m getting beat to hell and back by conservatives for insisting the GOP hold the line on Cut, Cap, and Balance. Even here at RedState, I’m getting accused of “ideological intransigence.” Yeah, here at RedState. There’s a first time for everything. People want a deal. People want John Boehner’s deal. People are upset with me for not liking John Boehner’s deal. People are telling me, | Read More »
Senator Helms once said, “Compromise, hell! That’s what has happened to us all down the line — and that’s the very cause of our woes. If freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, why should those who believe in freedom treat it as if it were a roll of bologna to be bartered a slice at a time?” The Democrats and Republicans in Washington may | Read More »
Tonight, the President will address the nation and call for merging John Boehner and Harry Reid’s debt ceiling plans. In effect, the President says if he can get a one time increase, instead of having to have two takes to get what he wants, he’s pretty much ready to go along with John Boehner’s plan. So here is what I predict will happen: (1) Harry | Read More »
I was just given the following bullet points from one of the individuals who got briefed at the staff level on John Boehner’s proposal: On background if you would please*, just left the meeting on the Boehner deal. Some highlights: Outlay reduction for FY 12 – $25 billion cut in discretionary spending. Debt limit increase right away – $1 trillion Does not touch Obamacare funding, | Read More »
Apparently, the Republicans in Congress need a brief remedial lesson in the history of debt ceilings in this country over the last thirty years. January 1982 – Commission on Fiscal Accountability of the Nation’s Energy Resources — Debt at $1.14 Trillion January 1983 – National Commission on Social Security Reform – – Debt at $1.20 Trillion January 1984 – Executive Committee of the President’s Private | Read More »
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (R-NC) was on Fox News a while ago saying House Republicans are standing behind John Boehner and his proposal. They might want to think again. Having now reviewed it, it seems pretty clear that we will lose our credit rating as it does a lot of what the credit agencies have said not to do — mainly to punt. Beyond the Speaker’s | Read More »
In the past 48 hours I have had call after call after call from members of the United States Congress. They’ve read what I’ve written. They agree. But they feel the hour is short and the end is nigh. So some are calling looking for alternatives. Some are calling looking for energy. Many are calling looking for absolution. And so I address them and put | Read More »
The President has rejected the short-term bipartisan deal that Reid and Boehner concocted. Now Boehner is losing the headlines with the media claiming Reid will offer no tax increases and more spending cuts than Boehner, not that they are real. It’s just another reason the House needs to draw a line in the sand and demand Cut, Cap, and Balance. Stop negotiating. Fight. You can | Read More »
The Wall Street Journal reports that Bank of America is probably going to cut the U.S. credit rating anyway. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch says in a note that the U.S. credit rating will likely be cut to AA by the end of the year. Even though the house believes a stopgap deal will come at the last minute, any follow-up deal is likely to be | Read More »
Having watched this debt ceiling fight play out over the past couple of months, I keep coming back to one inescapable conclusion: we need better generals. The Washington GOP wants to force another vote on the debt ceiling right before the election. That’s one of the ideas being kicked around in part of this grand deal. Let’s play this out: We get to the last | Read More »
A House Republican who is in leadership called me tonight. He said what we are hearing about — the two tier plan — is “sh*t” and he’s blaming Boehner. He agrees that Boehner is getting nervous and wants a deal. But this two tier plan seems to be the Republicans’ initial offer. Harry Reid is headed that way. Many Democrats want more. So keep in | Read More »
“The only reason this is a crisis and the only reason they now want a last minute deal is because while House Republicans were working to save the country Democrats were busy scoring cheap political points.” I’ve gotten lots of calls about compromise this weekend. Senators have called. Congressmen have called. Staffers have called. I try not to be too committal on these calls because | Read More »
I think conservatives need to draw one more line in the sand on the debt ceiling. There is a growing worry that John Boehner and Eric Cantor will come up with a deal with the White House that will require Democrat votes to get through the House of Representatives. This would be a replay of the continuing resolution fiasco that cut little and cost much. | Read More »
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 | Read More »
Here is the way things work in Washington. One group in Congress comes up with a bold plan to save the country. Let’s call it Cut, Cap, and Balance. Everyone else sets out to undermine their plan. Heck, most of the rest of Congress doesn’t have a plan at all — they just want to dump on the group that comes up with the plan. | Read More »
If the New York Times reports tonight are true, John Boehner may just be destroying any chance the Supreme Court would get rid of Obamacare and making it even more likely Obamacare will never be repealed. Talk about negotiating with yourself. If Boehner gets what he wants — and Obama might just give it to him with enough rope to hang himself — the nation | Read More »
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