The unabashedly political considerations of Senator Mitch McConnell, who has said that his first mission is to see that President Obama does not get a second term and that triggering a downturn in the economy by not raising the debt ceiling would endanger the GOP “brand.”
He is more worried about his Political Aspirations and Power than about America's Economic Woes.
After pushing all sorts of nonsense for the months of year 2011, the Republicans in Congress have to find some way to save face.
POLITICO.COM
"The Arena" Forum
Judging the Proposals of Senator Mitch McConnell
Jul. 15, 2011
Judging the Proposals of Senator Mitch McConnell
Some Excerpts with Good Humor :
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David Mark Moderator :
POLITICO's David Rogers reports that with White House debt talks at a make-or-break stage, Speaker John Boehner signaled Thursday that he’s open to new options to avert a default next month, including a novel Senate plan that would surrender much of Congress’s power over Treasury’s borrowing to the president.
Could Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's proposal end the debt ceiling impasse? Is it a ruse to make President Obama appear to be unilaterally adding to the nation's credit card?
Could Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's proposal end the debt ceiling impasse? Is it a ruse to make President Obama appear to be unilaterally adding to the nation's credit card?
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Scott Sales Montana State Director of Americans For Prosperity; Former State House Speaker :
A ruse, maybe, a terrible mistake, definitely. The power of the purse strings is clearly the constitutional responsibility of Congress and should be a power that is closely guarded and not to be infringed upon, let alone given away with a fight. The founders wisely designed a system of government that prevented the amassing of dictatorial powers into the hands of one person. Sen. McConnell would be wise to remember this and the Biblical character, Esau, who traded his birthright for a bowl of soup and lived a lifetime regretting it.
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Leslie Marshall Radio Talk Show Host :
Sen. Mitch McConnell's proposal will not end the debt ceiling impasse; perhaps a hybrid of that and the Biden plan will. From a Republican standpoint, McConnell's plan makes him a coward; bowing to the president. For others, McConnell looks desperate and no one in the GOP likes that with an impending election around the corner.
For we Democrats, it smells fishy. A plan to give the president more power from a party that wants less government? And a plan specifically from Sen. Mitch McConnell to give the president more power when McConnell has suggested in an interview that it's "his party's top goal to ensure President Obama is not reelected in 2012" and "with Obama in the White House there will not be any true spending reductions passed."
Much like that wolf in granny's clothing standing before Red Ridinghood, we can't trust this plan or this man; this is nothing more than a ploy. A political ploy to put all of the power, as well as the blame for raising the debt ceiling, any cuts ( which Republicans will quickly spin as not enough, the wrong cuts, etc.) in the hands of President Obama.
And that's what makes this "plan," smell most rotten. In the best of negotiations, both parties win some and lose some. The current hybrid proposal does just that. It offers Republicans the opportunity to get the debt ceiling raised without any tax hikes and gives the president time through the election not to worry about this further and protects the entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. McConnell's plan should be ignored, but his motives should'nt; after all, let's not forget what happened to Miss Ridinghood.
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Dean Baker Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research :
There is nothing more fun than to see the Republicans in Congress squirming before Wall Street, as some of us predicted all along. A debt default would be really bad news for the country as a whole, but it would put J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and the rest of the Wall Street gang out of business, which is why we knew that Congress would never let it happen.
So now, after pushing all sorts of nonsense for the last three months, the Republicans in Congress have to find some face-saving way to back done. The McConnell proposal is obviously in this vein. It raises the debt ceiling without requiring any cuts at all.
President Obama could just treat it as the joke it is, presenting a package of cuts that includes nothing but spending in Kentucky (McConnell), Ohio (Boehner), and Virginia (Cantor). In terms of taking the heat for "unilaterally adding to the nation's credit card," he has 16 months to explain to the country that he is just spending the money that Congress voted to spend. The alternative, apparently pushed by the Republicans is taking things without paying for them.
President Obama can also explain to the country, in terms that even a Washington Post reporter can understand, that the reason we face large deficits is that the Greenspan-Bernanke housing bubble sank the economy and the budget deficit is the only thing supporting it right now. He can also explain that the longer term deficit problem is entirely attributable to the broken U.S. health care system and that he has done more to rein in costs than any prior president.
In short, the McConnell proposal is a great solution to the crisis.
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Greg Dworkin Contributing Editor, Daily Kos :
The Republicans screwed themselves by being stubborn and willful in the name of ideology. McConnell provided a fig leaf as an out. They better take it, or the next fiscal crisis is entirely on their heads.
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