Thread: Congress Increases Debt Limit - both parties are liars

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Congress Increases Debt Limit To 24 Quadrillion Dollars

Congress did not really increase the debt ceiling to $24 quadrillion but it may as well have. If every increase is a foregone conclusion, then it is a waste of time debating approvals.

On Thursday, with little fanfare, Congress Increased The Debt Limit. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1261661 ... ewsreel_us

Congress's move to lift the federal government's borrowing limit by $290 billion -- enough to last about two months -- sets the stage for a contentious debate early next year on government spending.

The Senate on Thursday approved the increase in a 60-39 vote that was largely along party lines. The House passed the measure last week.

The additional $290 billion in borrowing ability lifts the total public debt the federal government can hold to about $12.4 trillion and will allow the government to keep borrowing through February.

Treasury officials had warned that the current limit of $12.1 trillion was close to being breached. Congressional leaders scrambled to raise the ceiling before they began the holiday recess.

An increase in the debt ceiling is largely symbolic as it represents money already spent by the U.S. government.

Year in and year out, and sometimes multiple times a year, Congress stages a carnival act for public display where the representatives all get together and pretend to be shocked at the size of the deficit and vow to do something about it next year.

Of course next year never comes.

If Republicans in general do not like deficit spending and Democrats in general do not like deficit spending then why does the deficit go up every year? The only conclusion is members of both parties are liars.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. ... to-24.html

DECEMBER 26, 2009

Congress Increases Debt Limit

Comments 50
By COREY BOLES and MARTIN VAUGHAN

WASHINGTON -- Congress's move to lift the federal government's borrowing limit by $290 billion -- enough to last about two months -- sets the stage for a contentious debate early next year on government spending.

The Senate on Thursday approved the increase in a 60-39 vote that was largely along party lines. The House passed the measure last week.

The additional $290 billion in borrowing ability lifts the total public debt the federal government can hold to about $12.4 trillion and will allow the government to keep borrowing through February.

Treasury officials had warned that the current limit of $12.1 trillion was close to being breached. Congressional leaders scrambled to raise the ceiling before they began the holiday recess.

An increase in the debt ceiling is largely symbolic as it represents money already spent by the U.S. government. In the unlikely scenario where it was ever breached, however, there would be significant consequences for the financial markets. The federal government would be forced to default on its obligations, and could lose its top credit rating, having to pay much higher interest rates as a result.

Just two weeks ago, several senior Democratic lawmakers had said they were close to reaching an agreement on an increase in the debt limit of $1.8 trillion to $1.9 trillion, enough to support the federal government's borrowing needs through 2010. That would have avoided the need to take up the issue again next year, when many Democratic lawmakers are expected to face tough re-election battles.

But when it became apparent there wouldn't be sufficient support in the Senate for that, Democrats scaled back their ambitions and moved forward with the more modest increase.

That leaves Congress facing another debate on the issue before the end of February. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said this week that would be the first order of business the Senate deals with when lawmakers return Jan. 19.

Republicans are hoping to tap into the public's anxiety about the federal government's finances to make gains in the polls next November.

When the Senate takes up the debt issue in January, Republicans plan to hold votes on a number of measures that would seek to restrain the federal government's ability to spend. These include discretionary spending caps, a move to strip out already-committed funding from the fiscal 2010 budget and the creation of a commission to investigate longer-term solutions to the debt issue.
—Patrick Yoest contributed to this article.

Write to Corey Boles at corey.boles@dowjones.com and Martin Vaughan at martin.vaughan@dowjones.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A2

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1261661 ... ewsreel_us

KICK THE TRAITORS ALL OUT AND REPLACE THEM WITH PATRIOTS!!!!


http://www.kickthemallout.com/

http://goooh.com/