US government shutdown - your thoughts?

[Monseratto]

https://www.facebook.com/JonStewartF...ed_target_id=0

[uls]

On Oct 17 the US Treasury can no longer borrow money by issuing bonds

[Monseratto]

[niky]

Goodbye two party state. Hello communism/fascism.

[Monseratto]

Shutdown powerplay update...

Q&A: THE STATE OF PLAY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

What were the House Republicans offering?

House Speaker John Boehner and other GOP leaders wanted to raise the debt ceiling until Feb. 7 and end the shutdown by funding the government through Dec. 15. They proposed virtually no spending cuts but also no increases. Their plan would have canceled special Obamacare-related insurance subsidies for the president, vice president, political appointees, members of Congress, and all their staffers. They had already given up on demanding a repeal, delay or defunding of the entire Obamacare law.

What do Senate Democrats want?

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid wants the same debt-ceiling time-frame, but prefers to fund the government through Jan. 15. The Senate plan would also require a joint House/Senate committee to find a longer-term solution by Dec. 13. Reid wants to roll back the March 2013 'sequester' budget cuts, adding approximately $100 billion in new spending, mostly on entitlements. His proposal would also delay a 'reinsurance' plan that could cost labor unions $63 per year for each employee they cover

What changed on Tuesday?

GOP efforts in the House stalled when conservatives announced they wouldn't support any deal that failed to cut government spending or significantly weaken Obamacare, two measures that would be 'dead on arrival' in the liberal-controlled Senate. President Obama had earlier told House Democratic leaders he would veto any bill that stripped Obamacare subsidies from senior government executives – including himself – and their staffers. Republicans also nixed their plan for a two-year delay on a controversial medical device tax slated to raise $30 billion for Obamacare.

What's likely to happen before the Treasury Department's Oct. 17 debt deadline?

House Republicans could still call a vote on their plan if conservatives back down or moderates beef up their offering with more tea party-friendly language, but that's unlikely. The Senate will likely vote to pass a package by Wednesday, dropping the hot potato back in Republicans' laps. Senate conservatives, however, would still block a vote in that chamber by refusing to end debate 'by unanimous consent.' If a tea party senate like Ted Cruz or Mike lee were to object, a super-majority of 60 senators would be needed to call a final vote. That scenario will depend on what's in the Senate's final bill.

Why would Senate Republicans go along with Reid and the Democrats?

Mitch McConnell and most other Republican senators believe Republicans should focus on the 2016 election and re-establish their majority before focusing on cutting government spending or derailing Obamcare. They tend to scoff at more strident Republicans who stir up controversy because polls generally show the public blames Republicans for the resulting fallout.

Why were Democrats so angry at Boehner on Tuesday?

Until Tuesday morning, the Senate's proposal was the only one with any momentum so Harry Reid believed the House would settle for making minor amendments to his plan. But on Monday night Texas Sen. Ted Cruz -- a tea-party darling loathed by liberals -- met secretly with a group of conservative House members and urged them to stand their ground. After that contingent spoke during a Republican policy meeting Tuesday morning, Boehner announced that he wouldn't be passive. Democrats understood that Cruz temporarily outflanked them by working with members of the other house of Congress, an unconventional move that they didn't anticipate.

Will the U.S. really reach economic Armageddon on Thursday of a deal isn’t reached?

The U.S. has actually been spending past its official debt limit since mid-May 2013, and few in Washington believe that the sky will fall on Oct. 17 if Congress fails to find a solution. Tax revenues are $240 billion every month, compared to just $18 billion in interest on the national debt. So the government will have what the Treasury Department needs to satisfy America's creditors for weeks, if not months, and conservatives like how the government shutdown has served as an illustration that some expensive government programs are 'non-essential.' Only the president can order the Treasury to skip interest payments. But if bond ratings agencies jump the gun and downgrade U.S. creditworthiness, the effect in the markets could be the same even if there's no real default.

Read more: 'Armageddon' comes Thursday, warns banking chief, as House GOP and Senate Democrats spar | Mail Online
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[uls]

it's over

U.S. House passes bill to reopen government, increase debt limit | Reuters

WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 16, 2013 10:20pm EDT
(Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives late on Wednesday passed legislation to avoid a damaging default on government debt and to reopen federal agencies shuttered when funding ran out on October 1.

The House vote came hours after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill. President Barack Obama earlier on Wednesday said he will promptly sign the bill into law.

[roninblade]

looks like obamacare came through relatively untouched and the republicans have conceded defeat

read the first part of the article here

~snip~

But under the compromise just passed, the law commonly known as Obamacare escapes relatively unscathed.

"We fought the good fight," Republican House Speaker John Boehner said in an interview with an Ohio radio station. "We just didn't win."

Meanwhile, the political autopsy has already begun.

"This has been a really bad two weeks for the Republican Party," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said.

Senator John McCain, who was the party's 2008 presidential nominee, told the upper chamber it had been "one of the more shameful chapters I have seen in the years I have spent here in the Senate".

[Balikpinoy]

Its just amazing how a small group of neophyte lawmakers with kooky ideas have come to hijack the legislative process of the US Congress. What a bunch of wackos!

[uls]

they shut down the govt for 16 days and threatened default and what did they get?

NOTHING

not only did they get nothing they damaged their party

magaling

[Monseratto]

Tuloy pa rin ata yung sequester spending ng republicans. They'll be at it again on February 2014.

The debt cushion now extends through February 7, with current spending levels being authorized through January 15.

That means a few months of breathing room, but little more. After all, the bill doesn't address many of the contentious and complicated issues -- from changes to entitlement programs to tax reform -- that continue to divide Democrats and Republicans.

"We think that we'll be back here in January debating the same issues," John Chambers, managing director of Standard and Poor's rating service, told CNN on Wednesday night "This is, I fear, a permanent feature of our budgetary process."

The heads of the Senate and House budget committees -- Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and GOP Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin -- will meet Thursday with an eye on addressing these budget divides. They'll helm budget negotiations intended to come up with a broader spending plan for the rest of fiscal year 2014, which ends on September 30.