President Obama is planning a news conference Monday at 11:15 a.m. A White House official said Obama plans to use the platform to make his case for Congress to raise the debt limit.
This will be Obama’s final news conference of his first term and comes as his administration readies an ambitious second-term legislative agenda including comprehensive immigration reform, an overhaul of gun laws and continuing fiscal issues.
The House has passed a bill to avert the fiscal cliff, 257-167, sending the bill to President Barack Obama and ending a dramatic New Year’s Day showdown over income taxes and deep federal spending cuts. The bill — which would allow tax rates on upper income Americans to jump, makes permanent middle class tax cuts, extends unemployment benefits and overhauls a variety of other tax and spending measures — passed the Senate early in the morning on New Year’s Day on an 89-8 vote.
The passage of this bill was done with majority support from Democrats and the support of 85 Republicans; including notable Republicans Speaker Boehner and Paul Ryan.
President Obama will sign this bill into law tomorrow!
What’s next???
Avoiding the sequestration cuts and coming up with cuts that are responsible and will not hurt the economy and Americans
Raising the Debt Ceiling
As always….
If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!
Republican Representative Doug Lamborn of Colorado just made a HUGE mistake; for whatever reason he decided that he would refer to President Obama as a ‘Tar Baby’….
“Even if some people say, ‘Well the Republicans should have done this or they should have done that,’ they will hold the president responsible. Now, I don’t even want to have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a tar baby and you get it, you’re stuck, and you’re a part of the problem now and you can’t get away,”
“I don’t want that to happen to us, but if it does or not, he’ll still get, properly so, the blame because his policies for four years will have failed the American people,”
Of course the immediate thought is that Lamborn had a Freudian slip in describing the 1st Black President; but after further review you have to also understand the term Tar Baby. In Uncle Remus stories Br’er Fox creates a Tar Baby doll to trap Br’er Rabbit; the story has been used to describe “Sticky Situations’.
But….
Tar Baby also carries a negative connotation in the Black Community and Lamborn chose the wrong words; does that mean he is a racist??
At this point in reading the text I don’t believe Lamborn was being racist plus I don’t know anything about his past that could suggest racism. It was a dumb-ass move by Lamborn; you can’t compare a Black person to Tar Baby.
What I do know is that I learned something about Tar Baby tonight….
As always….
If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!
Pres Obama addressed the nation Monday night but he really didn’t say anything new; well he did ask Americans to call their congressmen/women and let them know they support compromise and a balanced approach of reducing the deficit.
Obama once again stated his desire for a compromise between Democrats and Republicans; a compromise would include both sides giving in on long-standing beliefs. Those beliefs being….
Democrats – Cuts to entitlement programs; Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
Republicans – Raising taxes to increase revenues
The president believes you cannot truly reduce the deficit by simply reducing spending; he is of the opinion that reduction in spending will only hurt growth in the economy and set the country on the track for a double-dip recession. Obama seem somewhat serious about a long-tern solution that will not only raise the debt ceiling through 2012 but it will also significantly reduce the deficit.
In his address to the people Obama described the stalemate and clearly pointed out that it was a select ‘Significant’ group on the Republican side that seemed to be holding up any deal that would raise the debt ceiling. President Obama even went as far as invoking the words of former President Ronald Reagan (who raised the debt ceiling 18 times).
The next couple of days will be very interesting as Republicans seem hell-bent on the president failing and the Democrats will continue to fight any cuts to entitlements, many believe the Obama will fold and give into Republicans. But is it really folding when so much is on the line?
As President Obama stated,
“The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for dysfunctional government…”
RAISE THE DEBT CEILING!!!
By the way it seems like the American were listening to the president when he said people should contact their congressional representatives; shortly after his address it was reported that the websites of congressional sites were down.
As always….
If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!
Previously the president has given updates concerning the debt ceiling negotiations during the day, for the president to reserve a 9pm time slot for this announcement would leave one to believe this is a somewhat major announcement.
At this point we have 2 paths to select from….
Harry Reid has presented a proposal of $2.7 Billion dollars in cuts that do not include any increase in revenue. Important to remember that Speaker Boehner and the GOP have said all along that raising the debt ceiling will have to include cuts equaling or greater than the amount being requested to raise the debt ceiling about $2 Trillion dollars.
Speaker Boehner and the GOP is looking for a short-term deal where the debt ceiling will be raised to get thru this year and then another debt ceiling vote will take place in 2012.
President Obama has been adamant that he is looking for a long-term solution (similar to Harry Reid’s plan); the president is looking to provide stability so to give confidence that this debate will not happen again. The hope is this will return the focus back to job creation and keeping the economy moving in a positive direction.
At this point it looks like the Democrats will be unable to broker any deal containing revenue generation; this is a disappointment But the GOP may have shot themselves in the foot. In the ‘Grand Bargain’ deal Obama offered a tax hike that was less than if he simply let the Bush Tax Cuts expire at the end of 2012. If the GOP continue to refuse to accept revenue generation in this debt ceiling deal, Obama will go hard on letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire and Republicans will basically be responsible for large tax hike they could have avoided.
All in all it will be interesting to hear what the president will be announcing at 9pm; some how we have to get pass this debt ceiling issue before default 8/2/2011. Hopefully we can avoid serious damage being done to credit rating as a nation; any downgrade of the United States credit rating will have an effect on ALL of us!!!
As always….
If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!
Once again Republicans have basically walked out of discussions concerning reducing the deficit and raising the debt ceiling; this time instead of it being Eric Cantor this time it’s Speaker Boehner. Pres Obama in latest talks offered Speaker Boehner $1 Trillion in cuts plus $650 Billion more in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security; this latest offer was more “Generous” than what the Gang-Of-6 plan was offering.
With this latest walkout the president has asked Congressional Leaders to show up to the White House 11am tomorrow morning and that everyone should come with some kind of plan to avoid default. Obama indicating that we have reached a point where the debt ceiling HAS to be raised now through 2012 and that talks would continue after debt ceiling is raised on reducing the deficit.
If Pres Obama manages to get a clean vote raising the debt ceiling (meaning no stipulations for the raise) he may have pulled off one of the greatest bluffs ever. Many Republicans (Tea Party kats including Rand Paul) ran on the platform that they will not raise the debt ceiling without significant cuts to the deficit. If the debt ceiling is raised with specific reductions agreed upon, Republicans will lose what leverage they had in this fight. The GOP Congressional Leadership should have challenged the president and taken him up on his offer on the cuts and entitlement reforms. 1st Republicans turned down an initial grand bargain deal that would have had $4 Trillion cuts and possibly significant reforms to entitlement programs. Instead Republicans declined the deal because it included eliminating many Corporate Tax Loopholes that would have raised revenue.
And now Republicans are rejecting an offer by the president that is more “Generous” than what the Gang-of-6 were proposing; WTF! Most analyst agree that what the Gang-of-6 was offering was more than fair to the GOP an would have hurt the hardcore Liberal.
Instead Republicans want no parts of a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, they would prefer deficit reduction be done by hurting the middle class and poor. Polls favor Pres Obama in this debate, #1 the American believe the debt ceiling should be raised and#2 they favor a balanced approach to reducing the deficit; meaning not only cutting spending but also raising revenue to reduce our national debt.
Republicans may have squandered a GREAT opportunity to not only reduce the deficit but also a chance to reform entitlements. If the debt ceiling is raised with no stipulations, the momentum swings back in the favor of the president and the Democrats. They can play hardball in defending Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Hey Republicans, You Know You Done Fucked Up Now, You Know That, DONT YOU!!!!!
As always….
If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!
It takes a special person to have Bill O’Reilly REALLY challenge a fellow Conservative, and Michele Bachmann is that special person.
Bachmann is a polarizing enough personality that she is not only exciting to the Republican Party with her run for President but she is also scaring the Republican Party. Conservatives are looking for someone who will stand up to President Obama in 2012 and the field is not the most encouraging group; Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, John Huntsman, and maybe Rick Perry (still undecided)?
With a cast of characters like that I can see how Bachmann can be an attractive candidate, but the same thing that makes her attractive also makes her a nightmare…
In the debate concerning raising the debt ceiling Bachmann has taken the position of being the “Champion” for so-called fiscal responsibility, and in true NUTBAG style she doesn’t understand the complexity of the issue. Her lack of understanding is putting the United States and the global economy in danger. And she could not care less…
Even Bill O’Reilly can see that Bachmann is insane and this was visible during an interview O’Reilly conducted with Bachmann. If this was Bill O’Reilly interviewing someone like Anthony Weiner or Bernie Sanders this could have been ugly, but O’Reilly was some what tame out of respect for the presidential candidate.
Everyone can see the dangers except Michele Bachmann; when Bill O’Reilly is the voice of reason you know there is something severely wrong with the person he is interviewing. With someone like Bachmann running for president the White House has to have their fingers cross that Michele Bachmann will be the Republican nominee.
As always….
If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!
It is now becoming a daily occurrence for President Obama to make a statement of the dangerous game Republicans are playing with our economy if they do not vote to raise the debt ceiling. At this point I think we have heard ALL of the different ways to describe what will happen if the debt ceiling is not raised and the most commonly used word….. Catastrophic, might be the most over-used word in the English language right now.
But….
As the August 2nd deadline to raise the debt ceiling approaches Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernake, Moody’s and S&P have all stated the blow a failure of raising the debt ceiling will cause to our growing but still fragile economy.
Standard & Poor’s has warned lawmakers privately that it would downgrade the country’s debt if the Treasury Department is forced to prioritize payments because Congress does not raise the debt limit – S&P
“A default on Treasury debt could lead to concerns about the solvency of the investment funds and financial institutions that hold Treasury securities in their portfolios, which could cause a run on money market mutual funds and the broader financial system — similar to what happened in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. As the recent financial crisis demonstrated, a severe and sudden blow to confidence in the financial markets can spark a panic that threatens the health of our entire global economy and the jobs of millions of Americans.” – Sec. of Treasury Tim Geithner
“Would likely push us into a double dip recession.”– Sec. of Treasury Tim Geithner
“It’s not something you want to play around with — the United States would be forced into a position of defaulting on its debt… And the implications of that for our financial system, for our fiscal policy, for our economy would be catastrophic.”– Fed Chairman Ben Bernake
And even with all the warnings House and Senate Republicans continue to talk about NOT raising the debt ceiling. Stop me if you have this before, NUTBAGS like Michele Bachmann and Sara Palin continue to tweet and go on talk shows talking about Geithner has it all wrong and that Republicans should “Reload” and not “Retreat” when it comes to voting against raising the debt ceiling.
So if Republicans and their nutbag friends refuse to listen to the Tim Geithner’s of the world, who could possibly convince them of the dangers of not raising the debt ceiling????
How about Ronald Reagan aka Mr. Conservative…..
Here is the text of what Reagan was saying in this address about the debt ceiling:
Congress consistently brings the Government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the Federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well-earned reputation for reliability and credibility – two things that set us apart from much of the world.
This was a speech Reagan gave back in 1987, but the message still resonates 24 years later!
What Pres Obama has been saying all along about the debt ceiling mirrors what Reagan said back then; if Republicans don’t want to believe a Liberal like Obama maybe they will listen to their Conservative hero Ronald Regan
As always….
If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!
It's On Broadway 