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July 28, 2011 in Nation/World
House Republicans call off debt vote
WASHINGTON — An intense endgame at hand, House Republican leaders put off a vote Thursday night on legislation to avert a threatened government default and slice federal spending by nearly $1 trillion.
GOP leaders announced their decision after abruptly halting debate on the legislation and plunging into an intensive round of meetings with rebellious conservatives.
The decision created fresh turmoil as a divided government struggled to head off a default threatened after next Tuesday that would leave the Treasury without the funds needed to pay all its bills.
As the evening slipped by, the White House poked fun at Republicans led by Speaker John Boehner, who has become President Barack Obama’s principal antagonist in a contentious era of divided government. And Senate Democrats pledged to scuttle the measure — if it ever got to them — to force a final compromise.
Boehner summoned a string of Republican critics of the bill to his office.
Asked what he and the speaker had talked about, Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said, “I think that’s rather obvious. … There’s negotiations going on.”
Based on public statements by lawmakers themselves, it appeared that five of some two dozen holdouts were from South Carolina. The state is also represented by Sen. Jim DeMint, who has solid ties to tea party groups and is a strong critic of compromising on the debt issue.
A few first-term conservatives slipped into a small chapel a few paces down the hall from the Capitol Rotunda as they contemplated one of the most consequential votes of their careers.
Asked if he was seeking divine inspiration, Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said that had already happened. “I was leaning no and now I am a no.”
Many more congregated in the office of the chief GOP vote counter, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, perhaps drawn to the 19 boxes of pizza that were rolled in. Boehner joined them but did not speak to reporters.
“Clock ticks towards August 2, House is naming post offices, while leaders twist arms for a pointless vote. No wonder people hate Washington,” White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer tweeted.
Earlier, Boehner had exuded optimism.
“Let’s pass this bill and end the crisis,” said the president’s principal Republican antagonist in a new and contentious era of divided government. “It raises the debt limit and cuts government spending by a larger amount.”
President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the measure, and in debate on the House floor, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida savaged it as a “Republican plan for default.” She said the GOP hoped to “hold our economy hostage while forcing an ideological agenda” on the country.
Despite the sharp rhetoric, there were signs that gridlock might be giving way.
“Around here you’ve got to have deadlock before you have breakthrough,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. “We’re at that stage now.”
Wall Street suffered fresh losses as Congress struggled to break its long gridlock. The Dow Jones industrial average was down for a fifth straight session.
The Treasury Department moved ahead with plans to hold its regular weekly auction of three-month and six-month securities on Monday. Yet officials offered no information on what steps would be taken if Congress failed to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit by the following day.
Without signed legislation by Aug. 2, the Treasury will not have enough funds to pay all the nation’s bills. Administration officials have warned of potentially calamitous effects on the economy if that happens — a spike in interest rates, a plunge in stock markets and a tightening in the job market in a nation already struggling with unemployment over 9 percent.
White House press secretary Jay Carney outlined White House compromise terms: “significant deficit reduction, a mechanism by which Congress would take on the tough issues of tax reform and entitlement reform and a lifting of the debt ceiling beyond … into 2013.”
The last point loomed as the biggest obstacle.
The House bill cuts spending by $917 billion over a decade, principally by holding down costs for hundreds of government programs ranging from the Park Service to the Agriculture Department and foreign aid.
It also provides an immediate debt limit increase of $900 billion, which is less than half of the total needed to meet Obama’s insistence that there be no replay of the current crisis in the heat of the 2012 election campaigns.
An additional $1.6 trillion in borrowing authority would be conditioned on passage of The endgame at hand, House Republicans struggled Thursday to pass legislation to prevent a looming government default while slicing nearly $1 trillion from federal spending. Senate Democrats pledged to scuttle the bill — if it got to them — in hopes of forcing a final compromise.
The GOP bill’s $917 billion in upfront spending cuts was trillions less than many tea party-backed rank-and-file Republican lawmakers wanted, but a total that seemed nearly unimaginable when they took power in the House last winter with an agenda of reining in government. Numerous Republicans grumbled that the legislation didn’t cut more deeply, and Boehner and the rest of the GOP leadership have spent their week cajoling reluctant conservatives to provide the votes needed to pass it.
By most accounts, they were succeeding.
“It gives us a little bit of heartburn because it doesn’t go big enough,” said Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., a first-term lawmaker who said he would vote for the bill as the best one available.
Another first-term Republican, Rep. Martha Roby of Alabama, said the bill was “far from perfect. But I don’t have the luxury of writing the plan by myself, and neither does Speaker Boehner.”
While the White House and Democrats objected to the House bill, they readied an alternative that contained similarities.
Drafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, it provides for $2.7 trillion in additional borrowing authority for the Treasury. It also calls for cuts of $2.2 trillion, including about $1 trillion in Pentagon savings that assume the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Even before the House voted, Reid served notice he would stage a vote to kill the legislation almost instantly.
“No Democrat will vote for a short-term Band-Aid that would put our economy at risk and put the nation back in this untenable situation a few short months from now,” he said.
With the House and Senate focused on debt-limit legislation at opposite ends of the Capitol, 11 religious leaders protesting budget cuts were arrested in the Rotunda midway between the two chambers.
Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine said on the House floor that they were praying for those who will be “hurt the hardest” by the bill being considered.
Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., countered that he, too was praying — to avoid a default.
The day’s events marked the climax of a struggle that began last winter, when the Treasury Department notified Congress it would need additional borrowing authority, and Boehner said any increase would have to include steps to reduce future spending.
At first the White House balked at the terms, then relented. That gradually morphed into a series of bipartisan negotiations, one led by Vice President Joe Biden, then another by Obama, and finally, a round of golf that led to stab at a “grand bargain” between the president and Boehner.
Boehner announced last Friday he was calling off the talks, setting in motion a frantic week of maneuvering as the default deadline grew near.
Stocks plummet as outlook in Europe dims 
reservedparking on July 28 at 9:28 p.m.
The Republican Party continues to implode and self-destruct.
This is fun to watch.
meadman on July 28 at 9:32 p.m.
Five of the holdouts are from South Carolina, plus Jim DeMint (demented)….. there must be something very toxic in the S. Carolina water – something that destroys logical thinking and brain cells! Of course it really doesn’t matter since the bill will be DOA at the Senate anyway.
Shadedmuse on July 28 at 9:44 p.m.
Looks like the Repugnant-tea-bagger party continues to render them self irrelvant like the Whig Party of the 1800’s. As Mike Malloy says the sooner this party is gobne the better for the Future of the United States, Come 2012 we all Must Vote Democratic and show these repugnant corpertist tea-baggers the door.
misjustice on July 28 at 9:54 p.m.
“The day’s events marked the climax of a struggle that began last winter…”
Um, I’d say the day’s events were anti-climactic!
The Weeper of the House had to pull the bill because he can’t control his caucus; he won’t hold the gavel for much longer.
Shadedmuse on July 28 at 10:07 p.m.
Say bohner cant control is caucus with a straight face.
As Nancy Pelosi said running the house is like hearding cats.
woamike on July 28 at 10:10 p.m.
Maria,
Classy as always. A perfect example of what it means to be a lib.
misjustice on July 28 at 10:11 p.m.
Miss U 2, Maria!
Loved the Paula Dean and Debbie the Downer links on the threads a few days ago…
; )
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 28 at 10:28 p.m.
Sorry but…. Representative “Flake”….?? good grief.
They are causing “Caucus Interuptus” and the entire country just got sc–-d. J
maria on July 28 at 10:42 p.m.
Hey J, your e-mail working?
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 28 at 10:48 p.m.
Maria….. if it is me you are curious about my new email is <chefgusolsen@gmail.com> I am at Holden Village for the rest of the summer but can still weigh in here… J
Diana on July 29 at 2:34 a.m.
LOL, Gus! “caucus interruptus”. Love it!
kma on July 29 at 6:20 a.m.
Did anyone see that that nutcase Bachmann said that government is deceiving us and that we don’t need to raise the debt ceiling. Is this idiot for real? Maybe she should go foster more kids, I mean she fostered 43 at a monthly pay……from the government……..of over $800.00 per child. She is such a hypocrite. Her husband taking federal money for telling those that are gay that it is a disease and they can be cured if they pray. I truly think he is bisexual, why does he know so much about being gay, he is such a hypocrite too. Oh, and Bachmann spent over $6,000.00 dollars on hair and makeup since announcing she was running for president, but only reported appx., $1,000 spent on her ugly hair and makeup. Money not well spent, nothing can help.
The repubs only have one goal and that is to continue with all their hate and propaganda against our President. Remember that old man McConnell’s words….Our only goal is to make sure he (Obama) does not win a second term…..gosh aren’t they special folks.
Time to vote them all out!
soccermomsusie on July 29 at 6:20 a.m.
Way to go My Tea Party People!!!
Where is my fellow patriot warrior Hawken? He has been way too quiet during our triumph.
November is our time to be rewarded! Who won’t vote Condon for Mayor when they see what his and my Tea Party has done for America!?!
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!
kma on July 29 at 6:22 a.m.
You are right about Boehner misjustice but God help us if McConnell gets to hold the gavel. He is one sorry old man and needs to retire and stay out of politics!
Spokane_Citizen on July 29 at 6:32 a.m.
I hear hawken’s employer got tired of him spending all day sitting at the computer and put him to work wiping counters and cleaning the shake machine.
JBlim on July 29 at 6:39 a.m.
The crybaby/teabaggers are showing their true colors in this self-inflicted fiasco: yes they are crazy extremists. They have accomplished nothing except harming the economy with their self-serving, Neanderthal economic pet theories. I doubt the unemployed will find much to appreciate in their rhetoric. The long-forgotten “jobs!, jobs! jobs!” mantra is on the back burner while the crybaby/teabaggers play their hyper-partisan games.
kma on July 29 at 8:08 a.m.
Spokane_Citizen & JBlim…..great posts, thank you. Get the word out and let us put the Tea Bagging nuts in the gutter where they all belong.
Their motto is….DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO.
hawken was just promoted to bathroom stall cleaner and with a toothbrush!
mikeln on July 29 at 8:23 a.m.
I believe the president has the authority to raise the debt ceiling and should quit playing games with the future of this country and do just that. Let the right wing nuts take him to court and find out how stupid they really are. What these so called representives are doing is close to treason. Let’s tell them all to start looking for new employment next year, McD is hireing, you want fries with that?
maria on July 29 at 8:24 a.m.
I hope they don’t let him anywhere near the “shake” machine.