Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

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gounion
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Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by gounion »

Great Op/Ed via NYT:
The slim — and thus far dysfunctional — House Republican majority is determined to use the debt limit to force spending cuts it can’t otherwise pass into law. “The American people are the ones that’s demanding the cut in spending,” said Representative Jason Smith of Missouri, the new Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, on Fox News last week. “We have to have fiscal reforms moving forward. We cannot just give an unlimited credit card.”

Senate Republicans are also eager to use the debt limit for fiscal retrenchment. “It’s long past time for Washington to end the reckless spending of taxpayer dollars and start living within its means,” said Senator Rick Scott of Florida in a statement. “I look forward to working with House Republicans so we can stop caving to the Democrats, finally end Biden’s raging inflation crisis and bring fiscal sanity back to Washington.”

For her part, Janet Yellen, the secretary of the Treasury, said she was prepared to use “extraordinary measures” to keep paying the nation’s bills, although her ability to prevent a default may run out by the start of the summer. It is critical, she said, “that Congress act in a timely manner to increase or suspend the debt limit,” since “failure to meet the government’s obligations would cause irreparable harm to the U.S. economy, the livelihoods of all Americans and global financial stability.”

As for President Biden, the White House says it will not negotiate. “There is going to be no negotiation over it,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said. “This is something that must get done.”

This is the right approach — there were, after all, no negotiations over the debt limit when Donald Trump was president — but Biden could and should go further than rejecting Republican brinkmanship; he should reject the debt limit itself as an unconstitutional use of congressional power.

The debt limit, remember, is not a limit on spending. It is a limit, instead, on the borrowing authority of the federal government. It represents the total amount of money the Treasury is authorized to borrow to meet the obligations of the federal budget under existing law.

This is an important point. The Constitution directs the president to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” which is generally understood to be an affirmative duty to carry out the law as written. When Congress authorizes a budget, the president is obligated to fulfill the terms of that budget once he signs it into law. If Congress tells the president to spend $50 billion on a new program through the Department of Health and Human Services, he must spend $50 billion on a new program through the Department of Health and Human Services. He can’t decide, on his own, to cut the program and spend $40 billion instead, or spend $60 billion on a larger program and raise taxes to cover the difference.

“For a President to choose unilaterally to collect taxes in a way not authorized by Congress, or to spend money in a way not authorized by Congress, or to borrow money in amounts not authorized by Congress, violates the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution,” the legal scholars Neil H. Buchanan and Michael C. Dorf explained in a 2012 paper on the 2011 debt ceiling standoff between President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner’s large and newly empowered Republican House majority.
Joe, Glenn and GreenGrass all voted for this Congress and their plan to destroy our economy. I say fight their plans. Don't negotiate with idiots.
Glennfs
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by Glennfs »

Aren't you the guy who calls silly names for democrats classless and childish.
As I recall you were very adamant about that back when I used to refer to HRC as Cankles
" I am a socialist " Bernie Sanders
gounion
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by gounion »

Glennfs wrote: Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:16 pm Aren't you the guy who calls silly names for democrats classless and childish.
As I recall you were very adamant about that back when I used to refer to HRC as Cankles
I don't call names on politicians. I've only made a couple of exceptions - Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. I succumbed to calling Palin "Caribou Barbie" a couple of times, and I've often used "Huckaboo" or such, because it was way too easy.

But otherwise, I've used real names. Unlike you, I've not done so in a hateful way. Your use of such names says a lot about you.

And you have no problem calling me a socialist or communist.

I take it you don't want to touch the issue the thread is about, which is the plan of the GOP House to shut down our economy instead of raising the debt limit.

Not surprised. You support it, but won't defend it, because you can't.
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ZoWie
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by ZoWie »

It's a very small "Klatch" with a very large amount of power because of their holding out on their votes for McCarthy until he was ready to whore himself out to them to become Speaker.

Such is the mess they have made, now we deal with it, mostly by stopping it in the Senate and the president's desk, thereby achieving the anarchistic situation that the Klatch really wants to see happen. Win-win for them. Either way you get paralysis, which is their real priority. Don't forget that their guru Steve Bannon is basically an anarchist with vague Marxist leanings who basically believes the idea that the best government is one that doesn't govern much at all preparatory to "withering away" altogether.

Please don't view everything as a struggle between traditional "liberals" and "conservatives." That's playing checkers in a game of 3D chess. It's a battle over the basic concept of government in general.
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22
gounion
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by gounion »

ZoWie wrote: Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:33 pm It's a very small "Klatch" with a very large amount of power because of their holding out on their votes for McCarthy until he was ready to whore himself out to them to become Speaker.

Such is the mess they have made, now we deal with it, mostly by stopping it in the Senate and the president's desk, thereby achieving the anarchistic situation that the Klatch really wants to see happen. Win-win for them. Either way you get paralysis, which is their real priority. Don't forget that their guru Steve Bannon is basically an anarchist with vague Marxist leanings who basically believes the idea that the best government is one that doesn't govern much at all preparatory to "withering away" altogether.

Please don't view everything as a struggle between traditional "liberals" and "conservatives." That's playing checkers in a game of 3D chess. It's a battle over the basic concept of government in general.
Here we disagree. While the most crazy are the 20 that voted against McCarthy so many times, but the vast majority of the House GOP are with them. For instance, if we're able to pass the debt limit with the dems and a few Republicans, it will ONLY be a small handful, the vast majority will vote NOT to pass the debt limit. Also, I predict the vast majority of Republicans will vote for the "Fair Tax".
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ZoWie
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by ZoWie »

True, to a point. A lot of Congress critters have no strong priority beyond getting re-elected. The way to do that is to vote with your party caucus, and not lose its financial and political support.

It's in the nature of the House, as it was designed that way by the founders when they specified the 2-year terms, especially because they did not anticipate how deep partisan divisions would become.
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22
gounion
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by gounion »

Oh so true. The GOP is the party of manufacture outrage.

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Glennfs
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by Glennfs »

ZoWie wrote: Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:51 pm True, to a point. A lot of Congress critters have no strong priority beyond getting re-elected. The way to do that is to vote with your party caucus, and not lose its financial and political support.

It's in the nature of the House, as it was designed that way by the founders when they specified the 2-year terms, especially because they did not anticipate how deep partisan divisions would become.
We have far to many like Ralph Norman who do a good job get cemented to where they believe they can't lose reelection then go off the rails in a search for personal power.
It was nice having a Congressman who actually cared about and worked for our district. Even if we're only for a short time.

Fact is 90 to 100pct of people in congress and senate are representing either themselves or their political party. Not their state or district.
" I am a socialist " Bernie Sanders
gounion
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by gounion »

Glennfs wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:05 am We have far to many like Ralph Norman who do a good job get cemented to where they believe they can't lose reelection then go off the rails in a search for personal power.
It was nice having a Congressman who actually cared about and worked for our district. Even if we're only for a short time.

Fact is 90 to 100pct of people in congress and senate are representing either themselves or their political party. Not their state or district.
He didn't do anything for your District. He was always a Trump supporter first and always.
Glennfs
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by Glennfs »

gounion wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:41 am He didn't do anything for your District. He was always a Trump supporter first and always.
You do not live in my district so you don't really know.
" I am a socialist " Bernie Sanders
gounion
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by gounion »

Glennfs wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 9:13 am You do not live in my district so you don't really know.
Such things have never stopped you before from making bullshit statements.

But the truth is all that Norman does is demand the overthrow of our government, and you’re fine with it.
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ZoWie
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by ZoWie »

I have no problem with the idea of whackos in Congress getting elected in free and fair elections. It's not hard to wrap your mind around the fact that a population fed sexy distortions for the financial benefit of large media networks with a need to sell ads might indeed have a majority of voters actually freely and fairly elect people who see the whole problem as Jewish Space Lasers.
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22
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Drak
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by Drak »

gounion wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 5:37 pm Oh so true. The GOP is the party of manufacture outrage.

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Now we can add Xbox. :lol:

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"Some of those that work forces,
Are the same that burn crosses"

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Drak
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Re: Call the bluff of the Klatch of Kongress Krazies

Post by Drak »

They are all fascist loons

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"Some of those that work forces,
Are the same that burn crosses"

- Rage Against the Machine
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