{"id":905,"date":"2011-07-13T09:18:16","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T16:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=905"},"modified":"2011-07-13T09:18:16","modified_gmt":"2011-07-13T16:18:16","slug":"about-face-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=905","title":{"rendered":"ABOUT FACE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mitch McConnell is either the dumbest member of congress, or the smartest.\u00a0 At first I leaned toward dumbest when he proposed giving Obama the ability to raise the debt limit.\u00a0 Then I read the proposal and realized that this is a brilliant solution.\u00a0 The following article explains it:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/ezra-klein\/post\/mitch-mcconnells-surprising-proposal-to-empower-barack-obama\/2011\/07\/11\/gIQA4RDBBI_blog.html#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fblogs%2Fezra-klein%2Fpost%2Fmitch-mcconnells-surprising-proposal-to-empower-barack-obama%2F2011%2F07%2F11%2FgIQA4RDBBI_blog.html&size=small&count=fal<\/a><\/p>\n

First, Obama would submit a request for a $700 billion increase in the debt ceiling, along with a nonbinding proposal to cut spending. That would automatically trigger a $100 billion increase in the debt ceiling to give Congress time to consider the request. Congress could then vote to either approve or disapprove of the president\u2019s request. If they disapprove of it, however, Obama could veto their disapproval, and unless two-thirds of both chambers voted to overturn his veto \u2014 a virtually unthinkable outcome given that Democrats control the Senate \u2014 he could raise the debt ceiling anyway.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The same thing would happen, albeit in $900 billion increments rather than $700 billion increments, in fall 2011 and summer 2012. Take it all together, and Republicans would almost completely forfeit their leverage over the debt ceiling. In return, they\u2019d get to make Democrats vote repeatedly to first raise the debt ceiling and then to \u201capprove\u201d of raising the debt ceiling. As Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said, this \u201cgives the president 100 percent of the responsibility.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Republicans ought to accept this, because it puts the spotlight and the responsibility solely on Obama.\u00a0 McConnell is right, this President will never agree to a reasonable deal to raise the debt ceiling.\u00a0 Instead he will hold sham meetings and repeatedly use the debt ceiling to take cheap political shots at Republicans, without having to offer any solutions himself.\u00a0 He will use the threat of the debt ceiling to extort outrageous concessions from Republicans.\u00a0 This would turn the tables on him.\u00a0 He and only he would be responsible for raising the debt ceiling.\u00a0 He and only he would be responsible to propose spending cuts to support that decision.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the conservatives are looking at this as surrender to Obama, without realizing that instead it is the ultimate poison pill for Obama.\u00a0 My prediction is that if congress did pass this, the White House would reject it.\u00a0 If this was such a great deal for Obama you would be hearing a lot of Democrats praising it.\u00a0 They aren\u2019t.\u00a0 That is because they know the truth.\u00a0 This deal will expose Obama and ultimately expose Democrats.\u00a0 The reason is that Obama is very unlikely to propose real spending cuts.\u00a0 That means when he requests an increase to the debt ceiling congress will almost certainly vote no.\u00a0 Obama will then have to veto the legislation and Democrats in the Senate will have to block any attempt at over-ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is absolutely brilliant, but my hunch is that it will never happen.\u00a0 Instead we will continue on the same path, which is the road to nowhere.<\/p>\n

TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mitch McConnell is either the dumbest member of congress, or the smartest.\u00a0 At first I leaned toward dumbest when he proposed giving Obama the ability to raise the debt limit.\u00a0 Then I read the proposal and realized that this is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nABOUT FACE - SCOTS HONOR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=905\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ABOUT FACE - 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