GOP goes all-in and CAVES! America WINS! The shutdown is over.

A deal: Voting to avoid default, open government

By David Espo
Associated Press
Published: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 3:25 PM CDT

WASHINGTON — Up against one last deadline, Congress raced to pass legislation Wednesday avoiding a threatened national default and ending a 16-day partial government shutdown along the strict terms set by President Barack Obama when the twin crises began.

"We fought the good fight. We just didn't win," conceded House Speaker John Boehner as lawmakers lined up to vote on a bill that fell far short of Republican wishes.

A Senate vote was set first on the legislation, which would permit the Treasury to borrow normally through Feb. 7 or perhaps a few weeks longer, and fund the government through Jan. 15. More than two million federal workers — those who had remained on the job and those who had been furloughed — would be paid under the agreement.

Across the Capitol, members of the House marked time until their turn came to vote.

After weeks of gridlock, the measure had support from the White House, most if not all Democrats in Congress and many Republicans fearful of the economic impact of a default. As a result, there was little or no doubt it would pass both houses and reach the White House in time for Obama's signature before the administration's Oct. 17 deadline.

That was the day that Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the Treasury would reach the current $16.7 trillion debt limit, and could no longer borrow to meet its obligations.

Tea party-aligned lawmakers who triggered the shutdown that began on Oct. 1 said they would vote against the legislation. Significantly, though, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and others agreed not to use the Senate's cumbersome 18th century rules to slow the bill's progress.

"The compromise we reached will provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, declaring that the nation "came to the brink of disaster" before sealing an agreement.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who negotiated the deal with Reid, emphasized that it preserved a round of spending cuts negotiated two years ago with Obama and Democrats. As a result, he said, "government spending (in one major category of programs) has declined for two years in a row" for the first time since the Korean War. "And we're not going back on this agreement," he added.

McConnell made no mention of the polls showing that the shutdown and flirtation with default have sent Republicans' public approval plummeting and have left the party badly split nationally as well as in his home state of Kentucky. He received a prompt reminder, though.

"When the stakes are highest Mitch McConnell can always be counted on to sell out conservatives," said Matt Bevin, who is challenging the party leader from the right in a 2014 election primary.

More broadly, national tea party groups and their allies underscored the internal divide. The Club for Growth urged lawmakers to vote against the congressional measure, and said it would factor in the organization's decision when it decides which candidates to support in midterm elections next year.

"There are no significant changes to Obamacare, nothing on the other major entitlements that are racked with trillions in unfunded liabilities, and no meaningful spending cuts either. If this bill passes, Congress will kick the can down the road, yet again," the group said.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce came out in favor of the bill.

Simplicity at the end, there was next to nothing in the agreement beyond authorization for the Treasury to resume borrowing and funding for the government to reopen.

House and Senate negotiators are to meet this fall to see if progress is possible on a broad deficit-reduction compromise of the type that has proved elusive in the current era of divided government.

Additionally, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is to be required to produce a report stating that her agency is capable of verifying the incomes of individuals who apply for federal subsidies under the health care law known as Obamacare.

Obama had insisted repeatedly he would not pay "ransom" by yielding to Republican demands for significant changes to the health care overhaul in exchange for funding the government and permitting Treasury the borrowing latitude to pay the nation's bills.

Other issues fell by the wayside in a final deal, including a Republican proposal for the suspension of a medical device tax in Obamacare and a Democratic call to delay a fee on companies for everyone who receives health coverage under an employer-sponsored plan.

The gradual withering of Republicans' Obamacare-related demands defined the arc of the struggle that has occupied virtually all of Congress' time for the past three weeks.

The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Cruz and his tea party allies in the House demanded the defunding of the health care law as a trade for providing essential government funding.

Obama and Reid refused, then refused again and again as Boehner gradually scaled back Republican demands.

The shutdown initially idled about 800,000 workers, but that soon fell to about 350,000 after Congress agreed to let furloughed Pentagon employees return to work. While there was widespread inconvenience, the mail was delivered, Medicare continued to pay doctors who treated seniors and there was no interruption in Social Security benefits.

Still, national parks were closed to the detriment of tourists and local businesses, government research scientists were sent home and Food and Drug Administration inspectors worked only sporadically.

Obama and Boehner both came to the same conclusion — that they would allow the shutdown to persist for two weeks, until it became politically possible to reopen government and address the threat of default at the same time.

As Republican polls sank, Boehner refused to let the House vote on legislation to reopen the entire government, insisting on a piecemeal approach that the White House and Reid rejected as insufficient.

As the Oct. 17 debt-limit deadline approached, there were warnings from European officials as well as Cabinet members and bankers in this country that failure to raise the debt limit invited an economic disaster far worse than the near-meltdown of 2008.

On Tuesday, the Fitch credit rating agency said it was reviewing its AAA rating on U.S. government debt for possible downgrade.

By then, the endgame was underway.

Late last week, Obama met with Boehner and House Republicans at the White House. The session resulted in brief follow-up talks in which GOP aides suggested easing the across-the-board spending cuts in exchange for changes in benefit programs such as making Medicare more expensive for better-off beneficiaries.

After that faltered, Reid and McConnell announced over the weekend they were seeking a deal to solve the crises, and expressed hope they could quickly come to an agreement.

That effort was suspended on Tuesday, a day of suspense in which Boehner made one last stab at a conservatives' solution. When his rank and file refused to coalesce around any proposal, he gave up and McConnell and Reid returned to their labors.

I agree AssUp; a total cave in. But not a win for America. A win for Democrats and Obama.

The GOP will suffer because of it, as well as the American economy.

I agree AssUp; a total cave in. But not a win for America. A win for Democrats and Obama.

The GOP will suffer because of it, as well as the American economy. Originally Posted by Whirlaway

Yeah, the American economy would have gotten a real shot in the arm as a result of the credit rating downgrade that was coming once we went into default. You're an idiot.....but, you're right about one thing: total cave-in, complete win for Democrats. All this bullshit and the Tea Partiers and the GOP got absolutely nothing....except the lowest approval ratings ever given since the pollsters starting asking about such things....24%.

http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/gop-pl...soars-shutdown





Nice going halfwits.

Trumped up crisis; there wasn't going to be a default on the debt. Unless Obama refused to make payments !

It is how Obama governs; crisis-to-crisis. But I admit, he got a win on this one. And the GOP got their asses handed to them....negotiating doesn't work if you are so quick to cave in to the opposition. The GOP doesn't deserve to govern....but neither do Obama and the Democrats.

Yes, more debt on the American family ($123,000 per worker) isn't good. More debt, more spending will ruin us...So that is on Obama now.

I agree AssUp; a total cave in. But not a win for America. A win for Democrats and Obama.

The GOP will suffer because of it, as well as the American economy. Originally Posted by Whirlaway

Tim failed to ask you how putting 800,000 people back to work and having paychecks to spend will make the economy suffer ?

how about the millions of tourists that spend millions of dollars every year at our national parks ?


he didn't leave out you're an idiot .

""There are no significant changes to Obamacare, nothing on the other major entitlements that are racked with trillions in unfunded liabilities, and no meaningful spending cuts either. If this bill passes, Congress will kick the can down the road, yet again," the group said."

Yeah, great for America.

he didn't leave out you're an idiot . Originally Posted by CJ7

He makes it real hard to forget that part.

Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank..........

Like I laid before. When a plot against the emperor fails, you are given the choice of execution or suicide.

President Obama played the Tea Party like a cheap fiddle. And he was backed up on cello and viola by The Speaker of the House and The Senate Minority Leader.

How do you want your cyanide. In pill form, or in cool aid?

Trumped up crisis Originally Posted by Whirlaway

Hey, DUMBASS, tell that to these people....

http://news.yahoo.com/republican-sen...014026772.html

""There are no significant changes to Obamacare, nothing on the other major entitlements that are racked with trillions in unfunded liabilities, and no meaningful spending cuts either. If this bill passes, Congress will kick the can down the road, yet again," the group said."

Yeah, great for America.

Originally Posted by Chica Chaser

they still haven't talked about a budget ... notice the letters on your can

Trumped up crisis; there wasn't going to be a default on the debt. Unless Obama refused to make payments !

It is how Obama governs; crisis-to-crisis. But I admit, he got a win on this one. And the GOP got their asses handed to them....negotiating doesn't work if you are so quick to cave in to the opposition. The GOP doesn't deserve to govern....but neither do Obama and the Democrats.

Yes, more debt on the American family ($123,000 per worker) isn't good. More debt, more spending will ruin us...So that is on Obama now. Originally Posted by Whirlaway

The GOP trumped up the crisis, so Obama deserved to get a win.

I've said it before and I will say it again, the debt ceiling votes are BULLSHIT. They let cowards who won't oppose particular spending cuts pretend to be fiscally conservative.

The time for fighting debt and borrowing is when you are voting on tax rates and spending. If you set federal tax rates to bring in $3 trillion in revenue, but set spending targets of $3.5 trillion, you have already implicitly approved the borrowing of $500 billion.

But nobody wants to stand up and say "No, we have to increase taxes by X percent and we have to eliminate programs A, B and C, and raise the retirement age by Y months."

Because if you say something specific like that, you might LOSE re-election.

So, they approve the budget and THEN block an increase in the debt ceiling in order to burnish their phony fiscal credentials.

The GOP trumped up the crisis, so Obama deserved to get a win.

I've said it before and I will say it again, the debt ceiling votes are BULLSHIT. They let cowards who won't oppose particular spending cuts pretend to be fiscally conservative.

The time for fighting debt and borrowing is when you are voting on tax rates and spending. If you set federal tax rates to bring in $3 trillion in revenue, but set spending targets of $3.5 trillion, you have already implicitly approved the borrowing of $500 billion.

But nobody wants to stand up and say "No, we have to increase taxes by X percent and we have to eliminate programs A, B and C, and raise the retirement age by Y months."

Because if you say something specific like that, you might LOSE re-election.

So, they approve the budget and THEN block an increase in the debt ceiling in order to burnish their phony fiscal credentials. Originally Posted by ExNYer

hey, Hey, HEY!!!!!

What the fu*k are you up to?

Your post is waaaaayyy out of bounds - and it's got reasoning and facts in it, too.

You obviously are lost............

The GOP trumped up the crisis, so Obama deserved to get a win.

I've said it before and I will say it again, the debt ceiling votes are BULLSHIT. They let cowards who won't oppose particular spending cuts pretend to be fiscally conservative.

The time for fighting debt and borrowing is when you are voting on tax rates and spending. If you set federal tax rates to bring in $3 trillion in revenue, but set spending targets of $3.5 trillion, you have already implicitly approved the borrowing of $500 billion.

But nobody wants to stand up and say "No, we have to increase taxes by X percent and we have to eliminate programs A, B and C, and raise the retirement age by Y months."

Because if you say something specific like that, you might LOSE re-election.

So, they approve the budget and THEN block an increase in the debt ceiling in order to burnish their phony fiscal credentials. Originally Posted by ExNYer

the republitards lost a lot of leverage by not sitting down and hashing out a budget before they allowed the government to close down ... now about all they have left are the sequester cuts, and their pet SS project, so all they really have left is the sequester cuts ... lets see if they still bitch about Obie on that one

the republitards lost a lot of leverage by not sitting down and hashing out a budget before they allowed the government to close down ... now about all they have left are the sequester cuts, and their pet SS project, so all they really have left is the sequester cuts ... lets see if they still bitch about Obie on that one Originally Posted by CJ7

Actually, just as the debt crisis nonsense was the GOP's fault, the sequester nonsense is the fault of Obama and the Democrats.

They thought they could bully the GOP by loading a poison pill into the sequester cuts - i.e., by targeting the cuts to military and business spending.

But they didn't gauge the GOP correctly and the GOP called their bluff. The Dems just don't understand that many in the GOP are more than happy to cut back on military spending and business subsidies if it reduces the size of government and reduces deficits. So, they swallowed their own poison pill.

they still haven't talked about a budget ... notice the letters on your can Originally Posted by CJ7

Yeah they wouldn't want to get into a budget negotiation

Hey, it was the best I could come with on short notice!
I figured the first comment would be on the 2012 on the shirts. Like it makes a difference.

As long as the Dems get a "win", thats what's important. WhoopWhoop!