Lawmakers shiver over supercommittee

Source: The Hill

Democrats and Republicans who served on the 2011 supercommittee shuddered Tuesday as lawmakers debated bringing the concept back to life.

“I pray to God every day that I will never be put on another supercommittee,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) told reporters.

“Not again. Not again. Oh my gosh,” Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) said. “Having served as a member of the so-called supercommittee, there was nothing super about it. And it was just punting. It’s another way to get out of doing what you should.”

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Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), both supercommittee veterans, added that Republicans were trying to take revenue increases — one of the key differences between the parties — off the table.



Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/327381-supercommittee-ii-members-pray-to-god-they-wont-serve

TIME - "Not “Both Sides,” Now: Why False Equivalence Matters in the Shutdown Showdown"

We all know that Fox News is going to blatantly push lies, but far more insidious is the corporate media, which gives the GOP valuable cover by continuing to push a false equivalency between Democrats and Republicans. If anyone wants to ask how we got here, then we need look no further than the corruption and failure of the mainstream media.

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/10/07/not-both-sides-now-why-false-equivalence-matters-in-the-shutdown-showdown/

Businessweek - "How to Solve the Debt-Ceiling Crisis Forever" - Hint: The Gephardt (D) Rule

When trying to push the idea that both sides are to blame, the media repeatedly fails to mention that in January 2011, one of the first thing House Republicans did was to repeal the Gephardt rule, which required the debt ceiling to be raised along with the passage of the budget, which sort of makes sense. Why pass a budget that you can't pay for? Of course, that could complicate Republican efforts to pay for tax cuts to the rich, so there is that.

Anyways, the fact of the matter is that for all the talk about a CR, Congress has not passed a budget. They are now fixated on a CR, which is simply a band aid. The parties could end this drama, but extending the debt ceiling for a short period of time long enough to actually pass a budget, get serious about passing a budget, then as part of the budget, raise the debt ceiling per the Gephardt rule. Indeed, the reinstatement of the Gephardt rule should be a Democratic demand to keep Republicans from insisting on unpaid for budget busting tax cuts for the rich.

Unfortunately, this makes way too much sense for modern House Republicans, which means that there is a slim chance that this gets implemented.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-07/how-to-solve-the-debt-ceiling-crisis-forever

Most of the history of past shutdowns and near-defaults dredged up to lend perspective to the current crisis focuses on how common these events were in the past. But for more than a decade, in the 1980s and early ’90s, the default threat was basically eliminated. The trick was doing away with the bizarre two-step process by which the U.S. government budgets and then spends money.

Quick civics refresher: First, Congress passes a budget resolution that determines how much will be spent. Then it raises the debt limit to allow for that spending. Why two steps? There is no good reason. It invites the widespread misperception, currently being fanned by Republicans (but also once fanned by one Senator Barack Obama), that the critical spending decisions come in Step Two, not Step One, and that refusing to raise the debt ceiling addresses them. It does not. But it does cause crises like the one we’re in now.

Back in 1979, the Democratic House Speaker, Tip O’Neill, handed the unhappy job of lining up votes for a debt-ceiling raise to Representative Richard Gephardt, then a young Democratic congressman from Missouri. Gephardt hated this, and, realizing he’d probably get stuck with it again, consulted the parliamentarian about whether the two votes could be combined. The parliamentarian said they could. Thereafter, whenever the House passed a budget resolution, the debt ceiling was “deemed” raised.

The “Gephardt Rule,” as it became known, lasted until 1995, when the new House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, fresh from the Republican triumph of the 1994 midterms, recognized the same thing that Tea Party Republicans recognize today: The threat of default could be used to extort Democratic concessions. Gingrich abolished the Gephardt Rule, and within the year the government had shut down.

CSM - January 2011 - Republicans Repeal Gephardt Rule Leading To Debt Limit Crises

Unnoticed in January 2011 when Republicans took over the house was the waiver of what is known as the Gephardt rule. The repeal of this rule lead to ongoing series of debt limit crises. Of course, the media repeatedly fails to mention this when trying to push the false equivalency narrative that both Democrats and Republicans are at fault. Of course, one possible compromise would be to re-implement this rule as part of any debt limit extension. Sure, Republicans could claim credit for reinstituting the rule, but we would all know the truth.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0104/Five-ways-Republicans-will-change-the-House/Repeal-of-the-Gephardt-rule

Repeal of the Gephardt rule

Congress established the first national debt limit in 1917 at $11.5 billion, setting up high-risk votes to increase the debt limit ever since.

In 1979, Rep. Richard Gephardt (D) of Missouri proposed setting the debt limit automatically at the level projected by the most recent budget resolution. The rule, still in effect, allows for the debt limit to be raised without the House having to take an unpopular stand-alone vote.

In 1995, then-majority House Republicans waived the Gephardt rule. They refused to raise the debt limit in a bid to force President Clinton to accept spending cuts – prompting two government shutdowns.

Republicans in that era eventually blinked. But many of the incoming freshmen Republicans campaigned against raising the debt limit and say that they welcome a faceoff with President Obama over cutting spending and reining in government.

NPR - "A Short History Of Government Shutdowns" - Cruz Is Wrong Again

Republicans have been on the news blowing off the significance of their actions suggesting that it was common place to have a budgetary impasse. Of course, they are leaving out the fact that before the federal government continued to operate until the US Attorney General issued an opinion that the Federal Government could not operate without a Congressionally approved and appropriated budget. After that opinion, there was not a significant shutdown until, you guessed it, Newt Gingrich in 1995 and 1996, and now, 2013. Thus, Ted Cruz's claim that budgetary impasses were common place leaves out a lot.

http://www.npr.org/2013/09/30/227292952/a-short-history-of-government-shutdowns

The Atlantic - "Rep. (R) Ted Yoho Thinks Not Raising the Debt Ceiling Is a Great Idea"

While the Boehner and company continue to blame the President for causing the upcoming default, and the media continues to push the false equivalency meme of blaming both sides, the media continues to ignore the large contingent of Republicans who will always vote no on raising the debt ceiling and who voted no back in 2011 even though Democrats agreed to pay their ransom.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/10/ted-yoho-thinks-not-raising-debt-ceiling-great-idea/70223/

Everyone who knows anything about economics agrees: not raising the debt ceiling is a horrible idea. But Ted Yoho, a Republican Congressman from Florida who used to work as a veterinarian, thinks the debt ceiling should stay where it is. Forever.

"I’m not going to raise the debt ceiling," Yoho, a member of the Republican block who pushed for the government shutdown, told the Washington Post's David Farenthold. The 58-year-old House freshman has decided, against the better judgement of economic experts and both Republican and Democratic leaders, that not raising will not lead to the catastrophic economic effects we've been warned about. In fact, not raising the debt ceiling will be beneficial for the world's economy, Yoho has decided:

“I think we need to have that moment where we realize we’re going broke,” Yoho said. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, that will sure as heck be a moment. “I think, personally, it would bring stability to the world markets,” since they would be assured that the United States had moved decisively to curb its debt.

This is not what most people expect will happen if the U.S. does decide not to raise the debt ceiling before October 17. If action isn't taken, the country will effectively default on its loans. The Treasury Department recently released a report detailing the potential consequences of a default. "In the event that a debt limit impasse were to lead to a default, it could have a catastrophic effect on not just financial markets but also on job creation, consumer spending and economic growth — with many private-sector analysts believing that it would lead to events of the magnitude of late 2008 or worse, and the result then was a recession more severe than any seen since the Great Depression,” the report said. So those are the stakes if the debt ceiling isn't raised.

"Boehner Refuses Future One-on-One Negotiations With Obama" - January 2013

On the Sunday news, Boehner has been telling everyone that all he wanted to do from the get go was to negotiate with the President and that the President has his number. I guess with age, memory is the first thing to go, since not too long ago in January of this year...

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/boo-hoo-boehner-refuses-future-one-one-nego

It's the Republican way. Whenever they fail, they always blame it on the other side. So it is with Speaker (maybe Former Speaker?) John Boehner, who is now refusing to engage in any one-on-one negotiations with President Obama ever again, no way, no how, he's done forever.

* * *
In closed-door meetings since leaving the “fiscal cliff” talks two weeks ago, lawmakers and aides say the Speaker has indicated he is abandoning that approach for good and will return fully to the normal legislative process in 2013 — seeking to pass bills through the House that can then be adopted, amended or reconciled by the Senate.

"He is recommitting himself and the House to what we've done, which is working through regular order and letting the House work its will,” an aide to the Speaker told The Hill.

January 2013 - "Boehner tells GOP he’s through negotiating one-on-one with Obama"

Today, on the Sunday news, Boehner has been telling everyone who will listen that all he wants to do is negotiate with President Obama, that Obama has his number, and that the shutdown is due President Obama's refusal to negotiate. Not surprisingly, no one asked Boehner about his stance back in January that he was through negotiating with the President. I guess that would undermine the Republican talking point that Democrats are the ones refusing to negotiate.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/275295-boehner-tells-gop-hes-done-with-one-on-one-obama-talks

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is signaling that at least one thing will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: he’s telling Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama.

During both 2011 and 2012, the Speaker spent weeks shuttling between the Capitol and the White House for meetings with the president in hope of striking a grand bargain on the deficit.

* * *
In closed-door meetings since leaving the “fiscal cliff” talks two weeks ago, lawmakers and aides say the Speaker has indicated he is abandoning that approach for good and will return fully to the normal legislative process in 2013 — seeking to pass bills through the House that can then be adopted, amended or reconciled by the Senate.

"He is recommitting himself and the House to what we've done, which is working through regular order and letting the House work its will,” an aide to the Speaker told The Hill.

Ted Cruz Says He Has 'Not Remotely' Hurt Republican Image With Shutdown Fight

Source: Huffington Post

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) rejected the suggestion that members of his own party are unhappy with him for pursuing a fight over Obamacare into a government shutdown.

Asked by host Candy Crowley whether his actions have "hurt the Republican Party brand," Ted Cruz said no.

"Not remotely, but I also think far too many people are worried about politics" in the shutdown fight, Cruz said.

Cruz repeated several times his claim that he didn't want the government to shut down, and he bemoaned the "nasty partisan jabs from Democrats" over his role in the shutdown.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/06/ted-cruz-republicans-shutdown_n_4053493.html

A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Obama started his second term, a loose-knit coalition of conservative activists led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III gathered in the capital to plot strategy. Their push to repeal Mr. Obama’s health care law was going nowhere, and they desperately needed a new plan.

Out of that session, held one morning in a location the members insist on keeping secret, came a little-noticed “blueprint to defunding Obamacare,” signed by Mr. Meese and leaders of more than three dozen conservative groups.

It articulated a take-no-prisoners legislative strategy that had long percolated in conservative circles: that Republicans could derail the health care overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push fellow Republicans — including their cautious leaders — into cutting off financing for the entire federal government.

* * *
The billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David, have been deeply involved with financing the overall effort. A group linked to the Kochs, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, disbursed more than $200 million last year to nonprofit organizations involved in the fight. Included was $5 million to Generation Opportunity, which created a buzz last month with an Internet advertisement showing a menacing Uncle Sam figure popping up between a woman’s legs during a gynecological exam.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/us/a-federal-budget-crisis-months-in-the-planning.html?hp&_r=0