Senate Republicans Threatening To Make Harry Reid And Dems Go It Alone On Raising Debt Ceiling

With many Republicans agreeing with Democrats that raising the debt ceiling is a simple necessity, some think the GOP is left with little negotiating leverage.

But a little is not none: Senate Republicans could threaten to withhold support for raising it and force Democrats to pass it on a straight party line vote. One member of the Senate GOP leadership signaled this is the way the party might go.

"I think we have more leverage on the debt ceiling," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told HuffPost Friday. "Because unless 51 Democrats want to vote to raise the debt ceiling and all the Republicans vote against it, they’re going to have to give us something in the way of a systemic reform."

The thinking is that in the current political environment, the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection would run for the hills when confronted with the idea of taking such a politically perilous vote, and that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will in the end need Republican support to pass it.

Reid has the votes in his caucus to pass the legislation, but only if Republicans do not filibuster it (a filibuster requires 60 votes to be dispensed with). Yet the Senate minority has filibustered almost every major piece of legislation for the last several years, going back to when Democrats were in the minority.

A Cornyn spokesman denied that the senator was talking about filibustering or not filibustering the debt ceiling legislation in order to hang the vote around the necks of Democrats. He pointed out that the senator was referring only to what Republicans are looking for in exchange for their support.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has reportedly been talking up the virtues of not filibustering, according to The New York Times. Cornyn’s remark appears to line up with that emerging potential strategy.

Cornyn told HuffPost that Republicans hope to emerge from the debt ceiling showdown having gained three things: a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, passage of a spending cap bill co-sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), and legislation putting into place some plan to deal with the nation’s debt and deficits.

“Those would be pretty much the universe as far as I understand,” Cornyn said.

The last component could come from a bipartisan group of lawmakers -- the so-called "Gang of Six" -- who are working on a bill that would be based on the recommendations from President Obama’s own fiscal commission last December.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) signaled in an interview that there are questions about whether the group –- Democratic Senators Mark Warner (Va.), Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Kent Conrad (N.D.), and Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Mike Crapo (Idaho) –- will be able to hash out an agreement in time to attach it to a debt ceiling bill.

“I think it will be interesting to see whether the gang of six can come up with a legislative proposal, and if they can that’s the likely place where that will be offered,” Portman said.

When Bruce Jostens, the top lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was asked last week what he saw coming out of the debt ceiling fight, he emphasized budget process reforms and did not mention entitlement reforms as a way of reducing the debt.

“Do I think we are going to raise the debt limit? Yeah, I think we are going to raise the debt limit,” Josten told reporters. “Do I think we are going to have a clean debt limit vote like I think the White House probably wants? No I don’t. I think they are going to have to probably accept some combination of budget process reforms, more spending cuts, other policy riders that restrain spending in certain areas -- some combination of something along those lines.”

All of this ignores what would happen in the House. Even if the debt ceiling increase were to pass through the Senate without any Republican votes, it would fail if the huge GOP majority in the House also voted against it.

Comments

[guysalsburg]

12:19 PM on 04/17/2011

("Republicans hope to emerge from the debt ceiling showdown having gained three things: a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.............")

Unfortunately for the Republicans, Constitutional ammendments have to be ratified by two thirds of Congress 2/3 of the states' congresses. This is a process that takes over 20 years at the minimum. None of us know what party will be in control of the government throughout this time, nor whether the Republican or Democratic parties will even still be in existence. We might have a threeor four party system during these 20+ years -or- (don't hold your breath) Congressmembers may even be true to their oath of office & start to do the will of the people & what is pest for their state and the nation vs. obeying a political party out of fear of not having the party's support for re-election.

As I see it, only the Democrats are willing to budge on getting bills passed. The Republicans not only stand pat, but they start issueing more demands to complicate the matter. It seems that if you give the Repubs. a dollar for a cup of coffee they add a new demand for five dollars & if you give that to them they want twenty dollars. This is not being honest, moral, nor serving the interests of the people - it is pandering to their national party. They, Congresspersons, were elected & sworn in to serve all the people of their congressional district & to serve the people

[Charles Bryan]

02:29 PM on 04/16/2011

Cam we fix the hole before we pour more water in?

[Hermadite]

06:00 PM on 04/14/2011

ABOLISH INCOME TAXES!


We propose an even more severe solution: abolish the Income Tax laws and substitute a Body Tax Plan. On or before April 15th, the entire family would weigh in and pay $5 a pound for each and every member of the family!
The total aggregate weight of 300 million people would far exceed the income generated taxing income, thus reducing our national debt, and encouraging fat people to trim waistlines as well.
Obviously, taxpayers care about their bodies and would be willing to pay by the pound without complaining. Also, they don’t have to declare a penny of their income!
This sort of common sense approach is the direction President Barack Obama has often proposed. And he would be a perfect poster man for the lean and determined leader whom most of us voted for.
As the U.S. Post Office slowly fades into the sunset, with massive closings and layoffs, their facilities and personnel could be utilized for National Weighing Stations to pay body taxes. Poor people will eagerly go on diets to pay less and senior citizens naturally save money, becoming shorter and lighter as they grow older.
CPAs will have to bite the bullet and be retrained for other missions in life. For example, as physical trainers or nutritionists to keep their clients’ taxes lower.

Uncle Sam’s slogan can then be: “THE MORE YOU WEIGH, THE MORE YOU PAY”

IRWIN LEBA FOUNDATION
([e-mail])
[phone]

[guysalsburg]

12:31 PM on 04/17/2011

Idiotic solution - the pay more if you weigh more tax. By this method a 6'4" man, weighing 190 lbs. would pay more than the 5'9" man who weighs 175 lbs - even though the 190 lbs. is perfect for the tall man and the 175 lbs. is overweight for the smaller man. Same goes for women. My 5'4" wife weighs more than my 5' daughter-in-law does, yet neither is over weight. Then there is the fact that as people get older they naturally get heavier - thus the reason doctor's weight charts consider age. Thick boned people will weigh more than an equal height thin boned person, ancestry (DNA) also weighs into the subject, as does what the person's job is. A person who hauls heavy weights on the job will build up more muscle than the person who sits in an office in front of a computer & muscles weigh more than fat does.

Then there is the problem of how are you going to ensure that people get weighed properly so as to determine their taxes. Do they have to go to the doctor to be weighed & who will pay for this doctor visit? Then there is the legal requirement that would be needed - federal inspectors would have to go to all doctor offices to calibrate the weight scales to be used for tax purposes - this would cost billions of gov't dollars.

Bad tax idea.

[baileywick]

04:04 PM on 06/09/2011

Hermaphrodite, you are on a different playground than the big people.
Back to your simpletonian sandbox.

[wrylyfox]

03:38 PM on 04/14/2011

Since the Fed is the government's bank, it is not going to allow default. However, the things that it can and will do to prevent default are draconian to the companies and individuals that depend upon the financial system. A market panic like we just had is an indirect result of default. Do you think Mr. Moneybags is not going to lobby the Republicans to compromise, i.e., act like they were not totally nuts?

[Gloria Monroe]

05:22 PM on 04/14/2011

ofcourse the government won't default, no govt. in crisis has yet! Greece is still strong & hasn't defaulted, same as Ireland. They can't & won't, because govt'.s are the issuers of currency....the US is NOT broke it is in debt mainly from tax breaks for the wealthiest, & funding two wars simultaneously.
the middle & working class are carrying the tax burden. for the nation! Thank you GOP!

[SuperKK]

02:23 PM on 04/14/2011

It is blatantly obvious that these people do not have the best interests of this country at heart. The time has come for vigilante justice, as was meted out by the French Resistance to the Vichy supporters in WWII. But all the bloggers here can think of are different people for whom to vote. The electoral and legal processes in this country are stacked decks, and replacing one corporate shill with another by voting will not produce progressive reform. There is now partial collapse; time is growing short to stave off full collapse.

[guysalsburg]

12:38 PM on 04/17/2011

SuperKK is obviously not a loyal, patriotic American to propose or suggest vigilante justice. Vigilanteism does not produce justice, it produces killing someone before the courts could determine whether the person is guilty or not & has been known to turn on the very people who practice it. Many vigilantes in history have been killed by people who used vigilanteism in revenge to get "justice".

I am a retired military veteran and historian, and though I served to protect the rights of all Americans, some have morally stripped themselves of these rights - SuperKK is an example.

SFC G. Salsburg, US Army Retired

[SuperKK]

06:34 PM on 04/22/2011

In an ideal world, with a fair legal and electoral process, justice would be obtained through the legal and electoral process. Our present system is owned and run by and for the ultra-wealthy, and the only way justice and real change will come is through the route of Egypt and Tunisia.

If your 'service' was post-WWII, you protected the rights of the rich and powerful, not all Americans. The mercenaries that constitute today's military protect neither my freedom nor my safety nor my rights. In today's myriad invasions, they sit in the safety of protected nuclear submarines and destroyers, and fire Tomahawks at defenseless people, killing them indiscriminately. Or, they fly at the safety of 30000 feet, raining missiles on a helpless populace. Or, best of all, they sit at a computer screen at Fallon AFB, firing missiles from drones at defenseless populations. Some 'heros'; the 'best and the brightest'; real tough guys. To refer to them in the same breath as the real heros who died defending Wake Island against overwhelming odds is sacrilegious!

[jazabelz]

01:06 PM on 04/14/2011

Fine Cornyn and the Dems shouldn't support your budget proposal in the House either! Two can play at this pathetic little game you have created and I'm at the point where I don't care if the budget or debt ceiling gets passes. Yeah -- I know it will hurtall of us, but it will especially hurt Wall Street who are the biggest supporters of the Republicans. Let's see how much money they contribute to the Repubs when this happens!

[carolo]

11:22 AM on 04/14/2011

Sure enough. They'd rather see the economy heading into the toilet again rather than not "win". Obama went with the ridiculous Bush Tax rates because they held unemployment benefits hostage so it's a game they play.

[JohnLloydScharf]

12:58 AM on 04/14/2011

"According to IRS statistics, roughly 2 percent of U.S. households have an income of $250,000 and above. By the way, $250,000 per year hardly qualifies one as being rich. It's not even yacht and Learjet money. All told, households earning $250,000 and above account for 25 percent, or $1.97 trillion, of the nearly $8 trillion of total household income. If Congress imposed a 100 percent tax, taking all earnings above $250,000 per year, it would yield the princely sum of $1.4 trillion. That would keep the government running for 141 days, but there's a problem because there are 224 more days left in the year." - Walter E. Williams - "Eat the Rich"
■http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2011/04/13/eat_the_rich

[condocaine]

01:29 AM on 04/14/2011

cool, so going back up 3% to the clinton era rates not a big deal to you... though i find it funny the top 400 households make more than the bottom 150million combined, though that may be how much wealth they own as opposed to income reported to the IRS, weird how that is , isnt it!! but in any event, bush cut the taxes and didnt pay for em, so lets go back to clinton rates and then let the republicans sell the tax cuts with the spending cuts,,,, its crazy,, a guy has billions, millions and crying over another 3%,, reminds me of how many times u need to blow up the world (ans ONCE) but we got enough nukes to blow it up 100 times, lol, crazy!!! same with all that money,, in all actuality,, the tax rate prior to Ronald McDonald Reagan for decades was greatly higher and yet , we had millionaires. billionaires and the odd thing was, the rest of the country was doing well as well, but since "trinkle down" , top 1% grows 4 fold while the bottom 97% lost earning power and collective bargaining rights, lol, yet somehow, their are folks in that 97% that buy the koolaid about the "free" market, or Jesus, or hate some foreign enemy.... in a sane world, the USA would have 1/2 the military budget yet spend 5 times as much as china that is tryin to protect 3 times as manypeople

[SharlyFarley]

09:39 PM on 04/13/2011

With talk like this, no wonder Wall Street is terrified...The republicans don't seem to understand that they don't need to defeat the bill to raise the debt ceiling to cause a catastrophe. The more they argue about defaulting on our debts, the more nervous our creditors will be. To gain political satisfaction, the republicans - particularly in the House - are willing to throw us on the mercy of the Chinese. This is not patriotism as I understand it.

[Gary Strawley]

08:46 PM on 04/13/2011

The gop is like robin hood, only the opposite, they plan to take from the poor and middle class
and GIVE to the rich!! Please Wake Up, if U can't see this yet!!! Don't let them rob your family fron their future!!!!

It is now a Government for Big Business Buy Big Business!!!!!!!! Wake Up, Peak at the truth
at least once a Year!!!! or once every 2 yrs.!!! Your wages will be going down u now!!!
Once they brake the unions your next, unless your rich all ready!! Then u can help the rest of the rich rob the midde and the poor and the old!! WHY would they do that? ans. GREED!!!
gop means GREED!!! That is all they stand for- unless, what else Oh taking form the poor
and Giving to the rich!!!! I did not notice did U!!!!










robin Hood

[ZaneDavid]

10:34 PM on 04/13/2011

I'm with ya robin Hood, we have to stop the rich, get rid of them. Once thats done do we wear the same clothes so that everyone appears the same and equal.?.you know - like they did in China.

[carolo]

11:24 AM on 04/14/2011

Reminds me of the Roman Empire when only the rich got richer and the poorer got poorer.

[ugly american]

11:51 AM on 04/14/2011

That is why we are headed in the same direction as the Roman Empire...and the British Empire and all those other empires that have risen and fallen throughout history.
"The sun never sets on the Brit...er...American Empire"
The time has come that many wish it did.

[windyindie41]

08:36 PM on 04/13/2011

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter if 80% of the country wants taxes raised on millionaires, because over half of those 80% DON'T VOTE!!!

Voter apathy is the #1 PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY, AND THAT WHICH ALL OTHER PROBLEMS STEM FROM!!!

While I test the Republicans and lose respect for someone who votes for them, I have infinitely LESS respect for those that are eligible to vote but chose not to because "the person they want isn't in the race" or "they don't know enough about politics".

If there is a basic American right that should be honored, cherished, and most of all, ENACTED UPON AT ALL OPPORTUNITIES, it is to use your right to vote in a democratic election to chose the leaders who make the decisions for us.

To bottom line it, EVERY American should at least GLANCE at the news once a day, ESPECIALLY during an election year. And most of all remember: if you don't vote for the person you find LEAST offensive, you risk electing the person you find MOST offensive.

[ZaneDavid]

09:49 PM on 04/13/2011

As long as it isn't just MSNBC.

[carolo]

11:26 AM on 04/14/2011

What also gets me is those that are not even affected by those taxes are not even involved in this. It will not hurt them in any way at all. Those that it will affect are people like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates who both said they should be taxed more.

[Chris Wundrow]

07:41 PM on 04/13/2011

Like I posted last night--somewhere--responding to some other post--this baby is going to the brink, and it is going to the brink precisely because there are too many people who DON'T understand the consequences of the US defaulting on its debts (the collapse of the world economy being one of them--folks it's all hopelessly interlocked!). They would rather score points with their extremist base--TP's, etc. This game of chicken, frankly, scares the hell out of me. But the idiocy of our leaders scares me more. I can only hope and pray that someone slams on the brakes in time. And by the way, I don't believe we won't be staring a government shutdown in the face this time next week when the vaunted "deal" inevitably falls through!

[ZaneDavid]

09:52 PM on 04/13/2011

Four Trillion Dollars in 12 years....and thats a good thing.? How about 4 trillion in 4 years.?

[carolo]

11:29 AM on 04/14/2011

I don't believe all the bargaining chips have yet reached the pile. You need to hold back what all you're willing to get rid of for the great debates and arguments. You don't show your hand until the cards are all played? Ending the mess in Iraq where we never belonged would be a start. Getting out of Afghanistan another.

[Trublulu]

07:21 PM on 04/13/2011

Typical Republican tantrums. "If we don't get our way we won't go along with your program". They never think about the country; it's always about pandering to their wealthy supporters and to hell with everyone else.

[ZaneDavid]

09:52 PM on 04/13/2011

???

[rebelriser]

07:04 PM on 04/13/2011

Haven't the Democrats been going it alone for over two years now, so what would be any different now? Republcans have been sitting on their a$$es and doing nothing but blocking recovery all along. GO, Democrats, and while you're at it, keep the public informed about how Republicans are doing nothing but going against all middle and lower class people. I have a really difficult time understanding how human beings, if you could call the Republicans human, could wish to take everything possible away from people who are down and out. And it is beyond understanding how TeaBaggers Republicans could let their Republican Senators & House members take from everyone else to give to the wealthy. This is probably about as evil as I have seen in my lifetime.

[ZaneDavid]

09:54 PM on 04/13/2011

Actually the Democrats took control of both houses 5 years ago. Didn't even bother to come up with a budget for this year.

[carolo]

11:31 AM on 04/14/2011

I also think they should have done something last year but let's not forget that the republicans were fillibustering everything trying to hold off on getting anything done until the new republicans were there.

[Danilo Gurovich]

06:44 PM on 04/13/2011

Republicans are smart because they know that their base is too stupid to understand the implications of not raising the debt ceiling. Leave it to the adults in the room to get save the country.

Again. The Mullahs of Teabagistan have the same kind of mad power-wish that people like Gaddafi, Idi Amin, Pol Pot and Gbagbo have. Just get the power, reward your friends, and destroy your opponents. This approach isn't only unAmerican, it's flat out Treasonous.