GOP-controlled US House passes debt ceiling lift with almost NO Republican help
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed yet another increase in the federal debt ceiling by a margin of 221-201. Of those 201 NO votes, 199 of them were Republican. Boehner only managed to coax 28 Republicans to go along with him in doing the dirty deed.
I like the take ZeroHedge had on the matter:
[…]Considering that the vast majority of Republicans voted against John Boehner’s latest “plan” to do the Democrats’ work for them, and pass a clean debt ceiling, perhaps it is time to look for a speaker who represents the interests of more than just a tiny fraction of the party… and the Democrats of course.[…]
I had mixed feelings about The Wall Street Journal’s take on the vote. They cheered the debt ceiling increase vote, but offered up this intriguing suggestion:
But Mr. Obama vowed after 2011 never again to let Congress use the debt limit to impose spending oversight, and he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have turned every borrowing-limit fight into another media-assisted episode of blame the GOP for risking a debt default. Republicans are never willing to shoot their debt-limit hostage, so the limit has now become Democratic leverage against Republicans. Why continue the pretense of fighting over a debt limit that doesn’t limit debt?
Before it created the debt ceiling in 1917, Congress had to vote to approve each new government bond issue, specifying the amount to be borrowed and the terms. This is in stark contrast to today’s practice, when Treasury is generally free to borrow at will until it hits the statutory borrowing limit. Congress could repeal the debt ceiling and go back to approving each new debt issue.
Returning to the pre-1917 practice might provide better negotiating leverage to limit taxes and spending. It would also make Congress again directly responsible for government borrowing, returning some political accountability for federal debt accumulation that hasn’t existed for nearly 100 years.
We realize this is precisely why Congress won’t do it. But wouldn’t it be nice to be free of more debt-ceiling melodrama that is designed to make voters think Washington cares about the debt but does nothing to reduce it?
One has to also consider that not one House member had the gonads to demand a recorded vote on the ”rule” to go forward with this bill. They let that go by voice vote, so that there is not record of who votes how. These are often recorded votes, and Democrats typically vote in lockstep against all rules to send bills to the floor. If there had been a recorded vote on the rule, then about 20 conservatives could have stopped this bill dead in its tracks, assuming all Democrats did their usual and voted ”no”.
While the rot in DC is most evident in the leadership, which all needs to be replaced, and the sooner the better, it also goes much farther than just the leadership.
Yes, this is how they arrange voting for appearances. Regardless of the Member’s true opinion/feeling on the matter. Someone in the 13th district told me they got a communique from Holding less than an hour after the vote proclaiming his opposition to lifting the debt ceiling and highlighting his vote….not the “rule” vote, obviously.
A very critical question that everyone should put to the NC Republican delegation is why, if they were truly opposed to passing this debt ceiling measure, do they tolerate retaining the leadership that allowed it to pass.
Now a sellout by Mitch McConnell in the Senate has led to breaking Ted Cruz’ fillibuster against the debt ceiling increase:
http://www.redstate.com/2014/02/12/mitch-mcconnell-provides-key-vote-to-give-obama-a-blank-check/
We need to Ditch Mitch in the GOP primary. Here is his primary opponents’ website:
http://www.mattbevin.com
and more on the race:
http://www.dumpmcconnell.com
I love seeing conservatives take a swing at our crappy sell-out House and Senate leadership in primaries, like this new ad in the Senate primary in Texas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EIMkxNhClQ
And yet, very few want to form a strong conservative third party.
I believe that real conservatives are wise enough to understand its too late for that. If we abandon the GOP, we and the newly de-populated GOP will be neutralized, the Democrats will seize the opportunity to ensure once and for all that America is a one Party nation and that Party will be theirs. In other words, a long-lasting dictatorship. We’re THAT close to being there already. Leaving the GOP will hasten it.
RJ, though I share your frustration, we do not need a 3rd party but a strong and vibrant conservative movement … Made up of thousands of independent organizations working for mutual goals, when the shoe fits. Another political party will go the same way as the existing parties. Political parties always yield to corruption and control. Stay independent and stay free. We don’t need to be led.