debt ceiling

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At Fiscal Cliff, a Debt Ceiling Showdown Now Looms

Fiscal cliff debate roaring through Washington

(Newser) - Wrangling at the edge of the fiscal cliff is the main event in Washington right now, and the stakes might be even higher than most people realize. At President Obama's first meeting with John Boehner, he asked him to raise the debt ceiling before the end of the year,...

Forget the &#39;Grand Bargain&#39;
 Forget the 'Grand Bargain' 
Paul Krugman

Forget the 'Grand Bargain'

Paul Krugman doesn't think it's time for Obama to give in to GOP blackmail

(Newser) - Republicans still hold the House (even though Democrats appear to have gotten more votes in this election), so everyone is now wondering how far the triumphant President Obama should go to placate them and avoid the fiscal cliff. "My answer is, not far at all," writes Paul Krugman...

Romney Ad: Pelosi Put Obama on Mute

Bashes president's leadership via Woodward account

(Newser) - Mitt Romney is out with a new ad this morning that's generating some buzz, reports CNN . Repeating Bob Woodward's account of tensions between President Obama and top Democrats during negotiations over raising the debt limit, the ad alleges that during a phone conference, "As President Obama spoke,...

Don't Fear the Looming Pentagon Cuts

...because it's the domestic cuts that will really hit home

(Newser) - Much ink has been given to the Pentagon cuts set to hit on Jan. 2, thanks to the failure of last year's deficit supercommittee. But with less than five months til D-Day, the AP takes the opportunity to dish out a cheery recommendation: Don't fear those $55 billion...

Debt Limit Debacle&#39;s Tab: $1.3B
 Debt Limit Debacle's Tab: $1.3B 
GAO report

Debt Limit Debacle's Tab: $1.3B

Treasury maneuvering cost taxpayers dearly

(Newser) - Last summer's debt ceiling showdown cost taxpayers at least $1.3 billion in increased borrowing costs, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released yesterday. Legislators' game of brinkmanship spooked investors, driving up the cost of government borrowing. It also forced the Treasury to perform some financial gymnastics,...

The GOP Is Forcing Us to Elect Romney
 The GOP Is 
 Forcing Us to 
 Elect Romney 
Ezra Klein

The GOP Is Forcing Us to Elect Romney

Ezra Klein says Republicans have got a 'gun to the economy's head'

(Newser) - If you care about the economy, you'd better vote for Mitt Romney. Not because of his supposed private sector experience—his policies are indistinguishable from career politician Paul Ryan's—but "because if Romney is elected, Republicans won't choose to crash the economy," writes Ezra Klein...

Boehner Kicks Off New Fight Over Debt

He won't agree to raising ceiling without spending cuts to offset

(Newser) - Remember the nasty fight in DC last summer over the national debt ceiling? Get ready for round two this fall. John Boehner launched the first volley today, demanding at a fiscal summit that any increase in the ceiling be offset by spending cuts, reports the Hill . "When the time...

GOP Rolls Out Budget With Huge Tax Cuts

There would be just two brackets, with the top at 25%

(Newser) - House Republicans rolled out a new Paul Ryan-penned budget proposal today that calls for a drastic tax-code overhaul, major changes to Medicare and Medicaid, and deep cuts in domestic spending, all while softening a set of automatic defense spending cuts set to hit in January. The budget would scrap our...

The New Obama Gives &#39;em Hell
 The New Obama Gives 'em Hell 
Analysis

The New Obama Gives 'em Hell

Democrats rejoice as president goes on the attack

(Newser) - On Labor Day, Carl Levin gave President Obama the text of a speech by Harry Truman—who won reelection despite a bad economy by attacking Republicans so viciously that he earned the nickname “Give ‘Em Hell Harry.” Ever since, Obama’s been giving Republicans hell, the Washington ...

Debt Super Committee an Open Book—for Lobbyists

Influence peddlers get their due

(Newser) - The debt “super committee” tends to meet in secret, won’t disclose its donors or post its documents online, and has turned a deaf ear to calls for greater transparency from good government groups—but it’s an open book to the best connected lobbyists on K Street, Politico...

Obama Staffer Slams Krugman, Liberal Bloggers

NM campaign director blasts 'Firebaggers'

(Newser) - President Obama's campaign director in New Mexico has gone on the offensive—against liberals. Ray Sandoval sent supporters an email containing a blog post describing the debt ceiling deal as an "out-and-out win for the president," and blasting Nobel Prize-winning New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and...

Political System Isn&#39;t Broken &mdash;It&#39;s Working Perfectly
Political System Isn't Broken
—It's Working Perfectly
Charles Krauthammer

Political System Isn't Broken —It's Working Perfectly

Krauthammer: It may not be pretty, but that's democracy

(Newser) - Charles Krauthammer today disputes the "endlessly repeated conventional wisdom" that our political system is broken. On the contrary, he writes in the Washington Post , it's working "precisely as designed—profound changes in popular will translated into law that alters the nation’s political direction." For proof,...

Obama: We&#39;ll Always Be AAA
 Obama: We'll Always Be AAA 

Obama: We'll Always Be AAA

President addresses downgrade with optimism

(Newser) - Barack Obama did his best to reassure the country after the Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the US credit rating. S&P pulled the trigger “not so much because they doubt our ability to pay our debt,” Obama explained , but because “they doubted our political system’...

Dean: What&#39;s the Tea Party Smoking?
 Dean: What's 
 the Tea Party 
 Smoking? 
TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

Dean: What's the Tea Party Smoking?

GOP blames Obama, Dems blame Tea Party for S&P downgrade

(Newser) - If nothing else, the S&P downgrade made for a lively August Sunday on the talk show circuit, with anyone who is anyone booking an appearance to sling some blame for the US' brand new AA+ rating . The Democrats pointed directly at the Tea Party and its refusal to raise...

How the GOP Engineered Its 'Leverage Moment'

GOP radicals captured the party and used default threats to force cuts

(Newser) - Less than 10 days after taking over the House of Representatives in January, majority leader Eric Cantor was already working on using the debt ceiling to force massive spending cuts, reports the Washington Post in a lengthy analysis of how the GOP rebuilt a far-right majority after the drubbings it...

S&P: Oh, We Might Downgrade US Again

Worried partisanship will block meaningful debt reform

(Newser) - Standard & Poor's yesterday not only defended its decision to downgrade America's once-vaunted AAA credit rating for the first time, it warned that a second downgrade could be on the way if the US doesn't get its act together. “Compared to some other highly rated governments,...

GOP's 'Political Insanity' Caused S&P Downgrade

Downgrade not about numbers as much as GOP extremism

(Newser) - Standard & Poor's downgrade of America's credit rating represents a new factor in America's creditworthiness—"political insanity," writes Edmund Andrews in the National Journal . Indeed, Andrews notes that S&P explicitly cited politics in its downgrade: “The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights...

I Apologize for Calling Tea Partiers &#39;Terrorists&#39;
I Apologize for Calling
Tea Partiers Terrorists
Joe Nocera

I Apologize for Calling Tea Partiers Terrorists

Joe Nocera: NYT columnist says he went too far

(Newser) - New York Times columnist Joe Nocera took flak for a blistering column in which he compared members of the Tea Party to terrorists, complete with references to jihad and suicide vests. Today, he issues a mea culpa. "I was a hypocrite, the critics said, for using such language when...

Jim Newton: Washington Needs Dwight Eisenhower's Calm


 Washington 
 Needs 
 Ike-Like 
 Calm 
OPINION

Washington Needs Ike-Like Calm

Today's politicians have forgotten his lessons: Jim Newton

(Newser) - Coming into office after a series of crises, Dwight Eisenhower knew that part of his job as president was to calm us down. “He set out to project an aura of calm command” and, “through patient and temperate negotiation,” he sought to balance rival factions in the...

Poll: We Hate Congress More Than Ever

Approval dives below 20%

(Newser) - The debt ceiling mess has pushed Congress' already dismal approval ratings into the abyss, according to the latest New York Times / CBS poll. Some 82% of Americans don't approve of the way Congress is doing its job, the lowest rating since the Times started asking the question in...

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