Congress Sends Bush $800B Debt-Limit Hike

[goobergunch]

Congress Increases Federal Borrowing Power, Sending $800 Billion Debt-Limit Hike to Bush



WASHINGTON Nov 18, 2004 — Congress sent President Bush an $800 billion boost in the federal borrowing limit on Thursday, spotlighting how the budget has lurched out of control in recent years and how hard it will be to afford future initiatives.

The House approved the measure by a near party-line 208-204 vote as White House and bipartisan congressional bargainers moved to the verge of agreement on a year-end spending package expected to total $388 billion. Negotiators said just a handful of issues remained unresolved, and a package might be ready for votes by late Friday.

With the government facing imminent default because it has depleted its authority to borrow money, the debt limit bill would pump up the federal borrowing cap to $8.18 trillion. That is 70 percent the size of the entire U.S. economy, and more than $2.4 trillion higher than the debt Bush inherited upon taking office in 2001.

"The president commends the Congress for passing the debt limit increase," the White House said in a written statement that did not mention the magnitude of borrowing involved or its causes. "Passage of this legislation was important to protect the full faith and credit of the United States."

continued at link....

Incidentally, the House vote:

ON PASSAGE
S 2986, the Debt Ceiling bill
               AYES    NOES	PRES	NV
REPUBLICAN	208	 10	 	 9
DEMOCRATIC	 	193	 	12
INDEPENDENT	 	  1	 	 
TOTALS	        208	204	 	21

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll536.xml

[whistle]

1. That is $4.6 million borrowed per minute on behalf of the government...

...in an 8 hour business day. That does not leave much available credit for the rest of us now does it.

[Warpy]

11. They are authorized to borrow it.

Finding a lender may become problematic. The last bond auction was boycotted by China, Russia, and the rest of the usual purchasers. Wall Street had to be persuaded to eat them.

It is going to be very interesting to see who, if anyone, buys up this next offering of US debt.

If nobody bits, expect to see Draconian cuts in the already inadequate social services, but especially in social security and Medicare. Expect to see W's wet dream of ending employer based health insurance come in as a revenue raising scam, too.

Just don't expect to see a dime cut from the military or from corporate welfare. Oh, and Congress will get another pay raise this year, too.

[whistle]

27. Kerry and the Democrats can filibuster the congressional pay raises

...and should for the next four years.

[tk2kewl]

2. who are the 12 fuckers who didnt vote

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. That's what I want to know, too!

We can't afford to have anyone absent from these kinds of decisions!

[AllyCat]

13. Non-voters outed:

...This is from Congressional roll call:

Ackerman Cannon Carson (OK) Dooley (CA) Dunn Feeney
Gephardt Hoeffel Kleczka (WI) Lipinski Matsui McCarthy (NY)
McDermott Millender-MacDonald Musgrave Norwoood Quinn
Stark Tancredo Toomey Weller

12 Dems, 9 Repugs.

Source: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll536.xml

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. Useless SOBs!

Have to write some emails tomorrow! :grr:

[eleonora]

3. wtf. Man, we're SO screwed

Thank the ignorant fucks who voted for the schmuck...grrr! This is a catastrophe

[Cobalt Violet]

4. Conservatives???????????

I don't think so!:hurts:

[Ducks In A Row]

5. so are the rethugs moving to costa rica when the shit hits the fan

because they sure act like it doesn't matter what the fuck happens to our country.

[RebelYell]

6. And this is different slavery how? n/t

[SaintAnne]

8. no money left

why do conservatives like being fucked in the ass by people? and then don't like gays?

[Erika]

9. 19 mil an hour to pay the interest on the debt

And the GOP says sock it to the taxpayers. Borrow and spend is their new mantra.

[signmike]

10. Just in time

for a rootin' tootin' weekend. He'll have it spent by Monday and be back begging for more and having a tantrum if he doesn't get enough fast enough. It's his lifestyle.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

12. Had the 12 Dems who didn't vote have voted

nay, it would have failed 216 nays to 208 ayes. Even if seven of the nine missing reps had shown up and all voted aye, it still would have failed by one vote.

DEMS CANNOT MISS VOTES LIKE THIS.

WTF?

On edit, I thought of something: what if the Dems wanted it to pass, but didn't want to actually vote yes on it? Then you make sure you have about 12 or more out.

Hmmm.

[Sparky McGruff]

14. I suspect that they didn't exactly want to kill it...

If the bill was killed, it would have stopped the government cold, and caused a lot of problems. However, the dems wanted the republicans to have to claim credit for their hard-earned accomplishment.

It's their debt, and they had to sign for it.

[jackster]

21. jackster

maybe stopping the gov't cold is something that NEEDS to happen - its going to happen anyway if we continue down this road

drastic measures? perhaps, but is now not the time?

[Ravenseye]

40. Thats what the republicans want!

They want the governemnt to shut down. Thats the whole plan. That way they can gut every social program from FDR on out and return us to the glorious days of the Hoover Administration.

Sure they're voting for it, but it's a game. They don't expect it to shut down now, but eventually they won't be able to borrow their way out of it, and things will just come to a standstill. Thats when they'll get rid of all these pesky social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the FDA, the EPA...etc.

[tsuki]

30. Then they are Morans. The ReThugs will blame this vote on the

missing Democrats.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

35. Well

there were 9 republicans missing, too.

So I guess Dems can turn around and start yelling every time reps are missing from votes.

No, they won't do that because they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they (the republicans) blame it on the missing Dems.

Why would they BLAME anything on them? They got what they wanted, plain and simple.

Besides, the Dems could just say "hey we didn't want to shut down the government like you guys did in the 90s."

[tsuki]

38. They have blamed everything else on the Democrats.

Did you watch them slam Clinton last night for the deficits?

[drunkdriver-in-chief]

15. Good to see ZERO dems voted for this

A few abstained but at least the dems can honestly say - don't blame us.

[VivaKerry]

16. I want to personally THANK the 12 dem no votes....

Jesus.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

23. Look a bit higher in this thread

I think they did that on purpose. That way it would pass, but without a single Dem supporting it. Let it pass, let them OWN that mofo.

Also stopping it would have just shut the government down. Remember the last time that happened? And Dems probably don't have enough ammo to deal with the fallout from that right now. No, scratch that, they definitely don't.

I bet $50 it was strategic.

[Erika]

18. I Checked A Few Right Wing Sites....

Not a word. They are either too embarrassed or can't understand the issue. How sad for America. But Bush depended on them to get elected.

[RedCon1]

19. They don't care

They're convinced that this Iraq thing is still going to pan out and solve all of our financial problems with cheap oil. God I hate this planet.

[Pooka Fey]

20. WTF ????????????????????????????????????????

[UpInArms]

22. the feckless and profligate republicans

shall reap what they sow -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1004389

GOP Governors Cheer Coast-To-Coast Republican Control

Buoyed by President Bush's re-election and a political map with coast-to-coast Republican leaders, GOP governors gathered Thursday to cheer their electoral fortunes and discuss solving familiar fiscal problems at home.

"We can now travel from the East Coast to the West Coast without leaving Republican territory," said Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, noting that 65 percent of Americans now have a Republican as the chief executive of their state.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/11/18/gop_govs.html

and when the stupid hungry buybull eating sheeple awake to find themselves without food, shelter, schools and paying work, they will wonder how this could have happened. Fools and puppetmasters - they all piss me off.

[Az_lefty]

24. Boy George is suppose to be a conservative?????

I'm going to throw this in the face of every fool that voted for the chimp based on his "conservative" values.

:mad:

[Barkley]

25. A fate worse than debt

Foreigners have been regularly buying nearly half of all debt issued by the U.S. government. On Sept. 9, for the first time that anyone could remember, they stayed home.

A cheaper dollar reduces the value of American securities, making them less attractive to foreign investors. That could eventually precipitate what Robbins called "the doomsday scenario" — Japan and China not only refusing to buy U.S. bonds, but selling some of their $1.3 trillion in reserves.

The only way Uncle Sam could then find new customers for its IOUs would be by raising interest rates. And although higher rates are good for savers, they would be disastrous for a country weaned on cheap credit.


Ref: LAT: "Dollar's Decline Is Reverberating"
11/15/04

[tsuki]

32. Japan, I do not think will, but if China pegs its currency

to the Euro, we goners.

We may be goners anyway. China has the perfect weapon of mass destruction. And can play the card for what it wants.

[hatrack]

39. And we sold them that weapon. In fact, we had to.

And did I mention how cozy China and Iran have been in the past few months re. all kinds of oil & gas deals?

[atommom]

26. Watched part of this discussion last night on CSPAN, and

the Dems were very impressive in their arguments. The Rs just kept robotically repeating the same talking points. (GW inherited a deficit, this is the fault of the Democrats, we have to keep taxes low, yada, yada, yada.) Do they really believe this tripe, or are they just toeing the party line? What the Rs are doing as a party is really indefensible.

Thought I knew they'd lose the battle, I was proud of our party. Next to the pod people on the other side, their passion and their logic was a fine thing to see.

[GinaMaria]

28. Didn't GW inherit a surplus? n/t

[atommom]

41. Yep, but in Republicanese, a surplus = a recession.

Also, black is white, war is peace, ignorance is knowledge, and, um... :think: 9/11!

[tsuki]

33. You forgot 9/11.

[atommom]

37. D'oh! 9/11 9/11 9/11! (repeat as needed ad infinitum)

[tsuki]

29. Which 12 Democratic Dipshits did not vote? Are they dead?

Hope so. Now the ReThugs can blame the Democrats for the debt ceiling hike because the twelve couldn't get their a** to work. Is this what I am paying them for?

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

36. Read through the whole thread

first of all, there are ALWAYS some people missing on votes, on both sides. Always. Watch C-SPAN, happens almost every time.

Secondly, this was probably done intentionally. Let them raise the debt ceiling, but don't have a single Dem vote for it. That way all the repurcussions (and there WILL be repurcussions) will point back squarely at the repugs.

Almost all of what they do in Congress is strategic and isn't as simple as it looks on the surface.

[brentspeak]

31. The idiots who didn't vote squandered a golden opportunity

to put the ultimate embarrasing spotlight on Bush and the GOP. As well as apply a much-needed shock to the public-at-large about this debt which is drowning our nation.

[lies and propaganda]

34. it took like five minutes....

we are so fucked.