Senate approves debt-ceiling increase

It's great to see that the Senate and House could finally come together to pass a deal before defaulting. While this deal really has no winners, it was the responsible thing to do to prevent the American people from having to suffer more than they already are. Nevertheless, it's important to recognize that this is by no means the end of these debates. Essentially, we've kicked the can down the road once again, due to the inability of our Congress to come together and do what's right for the nation. If I was to blame either party for making this deal as difficult as it became, I'd have to say conservatives. However, you really can't blame either party for sticking up for what they truly believe will fix the problems of this nation. Then again, I'm sure that there are some special interests involved.

Now let me elaborate on my statement concerning me putting the blame on the conservative party. Throughout the course of our history, the debt ceiling has been raised dozens and dozens of times. Many times, this was under a Republican president and had absolutely no problem passing it through both the House and Senate. But now, as elections draw closer and a Democratic president is in office, the raising of the debt ceiling suddenly becomes some horrible act that must be stopped at all cost.

I'm not saying that raising the debt ceiling is something we should keep doing. It's merely kicking the can down the road. But for something that has been done for decades with ease to suddenly put us on the edge of another economic recession? Just doesn't make sense to me.

Hopefully this "Super Congress" will sort everything out, though I doubt it will. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has already made it clear that the individuals they send to the Super Congress will do everything in their power to ensure no progress is made. Come November 23rd, we're going to be right back where we are now... if not in an even worse position.

I'm sure a lot of people wish we could go back to the end of Clinton's presidency when we had a $200+ billion surplus.

Well said. But the truth is that, the way the system is set up now, we WILL have to continuously raise the debt ceiling, even if the debt to GDP ratio falls or remains the same. Now that republicans have decided to play this dangerous game, the debt limit vote should be eliminated, or at the very least, it should only be tripped if debt-to-GDP hits a very high number.

AdamT said:

the debt limit vote should be eliminated, or at the very least, it should only be tripped if debt-to-GDP hits a very high number

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good luck with that one

when do you expect kent conrad to introduce it in committee?

LOL!

Schaff said:

Now let me elaborate on my statement concerning me putting the blame on the conservative party. Throughout the course of our history, the debt ceiling has been raised dozens and dozens of times. Many times, this was under a Republican president and had absolutely no problem passing it through both the House and Senate. But now, as elections draw closer and a Democratic president is in office, the raising of the debt ceiling suddenly becomes some horrible act that must be stopped at all cost.

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So, you think this is something that just magically appeared? Interesting.
Allow your attention be directed to this article. Fights over debt limit have long history - Capitol Report - MarketWatch
In 1953/54 Eisenhower had a R-majority in the senate only and from 1955 thru to Jan 20 1961 there was D-majority in both the house and senate. Just one of the many argumentative discussions over the years.

Presidents with control of the White House and both houses of congress (all 3 branches for at least 2 years or more of their term) from 1940 to present.

FDR=D…..Truman=D…..JFK=D…..LBJ=D…..Carter=D…..Clinton=D…..Bush II=R…..Obama=D Notice BushII the only Republican in that class.

Republican President===54 Debt Ceiling Changes
Democratic President===37 Debt Ceiling Changes

Republican Senate====22 Debt Ceiling Changes
Democratic Senate ====69 Debt Ceiling Changes

Republican House ====9 Debt Ceiling Changes
Democratic House====82 Debt Ceiling Changes

Over the last 71 years, Republican presidents have signed 54 changes to the nation's debt ceiling into law, while Democratic presidents have signed 37 changes into law.

Here is a breakdown by president: Dems in office 7 times to Repubs 6 times since 1940.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, D, 6
Harry Truman, D, 1
Dwight Eisenhower, R, 7
John F. Kennedy, D, 4
Lyndon B. Johnson, D, 7
Richard Nixon, R, 8
Gerald Ford, R, 5
Jimmy Carter, D, 9
Ronald Reagan, R, 18
George H.W. Bush, R, 9
Bill Clinton, D, 6
George W. Bush, R, 7
Barack Obama, D, 4

hazlnut said:

Thank you Teabaggers for showing us that 2010 was the year Americans truly jumped the electoral shark putting an unprecedented number of unqualified people in positions of power...

Well done!

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Here's a problem you're not considering : How many of those "teabaggers" were people that were REALLY "RINO's" and acted like rats jumping from a sinking ship and saw that the "tea party" could be co-opted and used for votes, in other words cashing in on the anti- BIG government sentiment that's been brewing???

ON TOP of that, you don't understand that it is BETTER to have a MINOR depression NOW, then a TOTAL collapse when the bills can't be paid because nobody will accept the currency, and everything comes to a stand still, or almost equally as bad the situation where you have to go to the store with a wheel barrel full of money JUST to get something like a loaf of bread, THESE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED.... ALOT. It's better to allow things to crash now then to not even be able to afford to eat, and that's really the type of tough medicine that the tea party is proposing.

The time to do something simple was 10-15 years ago... NOW we got TOUGH choices to make, and taking the EASY choices are going to be MUCH WORSE in the long run.

I hope I put that simply enough.

But, I must add as well, that what's happened with this deal can ultimately be described as a political coup of the entire system as we know it, and EVEN IF I was wrong about the first bit, this second bit is potentially FAR WORSE.