American Politics Thread 2013: Bangs, Whimpers and Filibusters

can the senate even do it, isnt the debt ceiling filibuster proof cause its a budget issue

the thought that the us defaulting on its debts isnt as big of a deal as our 'crippling' budget deficits is some fuckin bullshit

Toomey talks about how little a shutdown would affect "the markets", but he conveniently forgets all the news stories about seniors worrying about not getting their SS payments, families of the unemployed with no food in the house, projects expensively put into mothballs only to be expensively revived two or three weeks later, businesses with goverment contracts not getting paid, etc. This is not just a PR disaster, but gums up the works for the entire nation.

All Obama has to do is sternly lecture Congress in front of cameras on a daily basis, while the Congressional Republicans look worse and worse by trying to talk about hazily theoretical future disasters they are averting by obstinately causing real and present disasters that everyone can see.

This is not just a PR disaster, but gums up the works for the entire nation.

And there's the small matter of signaling to the rest of the world that we are actually willing to default on our debts. Toomey's whole "this isn't about existing debts" is so absurd on its face -- that's exactly what it's about. You can't just imagine some fantasy world where we didn't spend all that money and therefore we don't have to pay it.

the country could still pay its debts and run the government if the debt ceiling isnt raised right away, they just use incoming tax revenue to service the debt and pay out social security and w/e essential stuff then issue iou's for the government costs its cant cover, then once the debit limit is raised you can pay it all back, this could go on for months w/o causing any problems really

it's funny how they never learn their lesson from shutting down the gov't - it's backfired on them every time

the prob is this time there's a limit to the extent that they can get 'punished' for being a shitty gov't

because most of the congresspeople are in safe seats

kind of hopeful the thread title becomes obsolete by year end; would love to see some filibuster reform

so not gonna happen

it may happen but itll be p incremental, unfortunately there will still be the filibuster, some day maybe...

this could go on for months w/o causing any problems really

...except the US Treasury already uses all these dodges and the Congress knows about them and assumes they will be used, so the actual 'shutdown' isn't consdered to begin until all these expedients are exhausted -- and that's what has happened before and what the crazies are talking about doing again.

Meanwhile :

http://m.gawker.com/5972549/wisconsin-gop-legislator-boldly-asks-why-must-we-still-hear-about-kwanzaa

the country could still pay its debts and run the government if the debt ceiling isnt raised right away, they just use incoming tax revenue to service the debt and pay out social security and w/e essential stuff then issue iou's for the government costs its cant cover, then once the debit limit is raised you can pay it all back, this could go on for months w/o causing any problems really

isn't this what we're doing right now? last week there was the statement from Treasury (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-31/geithner-tells-congress-u-s-reaches-debt-limit.html) that the debt ceiling was actually hit on Dec. 31, and Geithner is directing them to take "extraordinary measures" to keep the everything running until Feb 28th.

xpost i'm sorry Kingfish but only Ned is allowed to change the subject using the "Meanwhile: -link-" format.

;)

i could be wrong but its my understanding theres more they can do xp zs

this could go on for months w/o causing any problems really

In terms of actually keeping the wheels on, yes. But from a global finance perspective, turning our willingness to pay our debts into a never-ending political fight is all kinds of irresponsible.

ha yeah i think we passed the all kinds of irresponsible threshold a while ago

well yeah

Hate these guys:

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/02/16305284-house-gop-blocks-violence-against-women-act?lite

All sorts of wishful thinking 'is Boehner toast' chatter out there now.

Boehner ain't going anywhere except the bar for a bourbon, one ice cube.

Meanwhile, some sausage making

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress-legacy/the-gop-s-failed-plan-o-inside-the-fiscal-cliff-saga-20130102

xpost re: house GOP block of VAWA

But House Republicans insisted the bill is too supportive of immigrants, the LGBT community, and Native Americans -- and they'd rather let the law expire than approve a slightly expanded proposal.

jeeeez. maybe the article is missing some sort of argument the GOP made against the bill (expansion of govt. spending or some other bullshit?). did they have any excuse to block the bill other than "we hate immigrants, the LGBT community, and Native Americans"?

if there are any groups that get too much support in this country it's immigrants, LGBT folks, and native americans.

I mean geez we already let them have CASINOS wtf else do they want

We need more LGBT casinos

we need more LGBT immigrants imo

looking into a bit more (also via maddowblog), the breaking point for the GOP (cantor in particular) was protections for Native American women. The LGBT and immigrant stuff he could "bend" on, but protecting Native American women? ENOUGH IS ENOUGH FOR ERIC CANTOR. *barf*

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/07/15751333-gop-eyes-violence-against-women-act-changes?lite

these fucking fucking fucking people
http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/12/05/perinos-advice-to-women-who-are-victims-of-viol/191702

no one even batted an eye at that.

they were all too busy contemplating the other guy's claim that it was a fact that "millions" of people had protected themselves with guns, and that her personally knew "many" people who had protected their homes with guns, or whatever

b/w not voting on Sandy relief and the Violence Against Women Act ... this is pure sand-in-their-pussies spitefulness.

fuck them all to Hell, seriously.

looking into a bit more (also via maddowblog), the breaking point for the GOP (cantor in particular) was protections for Native American women. The LGBT and immigrant stuff he could "bend" on, but protecting Native American women? ENOUGH IS ENOUGH FOR ERIC CANTOR. *barf*

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/07/15751333-gop-eyes-violence-against-women-act-changes?lite

― "reading specialist" (Z S), Wednesday, January 2, 2013 6:07 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

manifest cantor

caveat cantor

eric "richard 'dick' tomato pizza" cantor

Meanwhile, some sausage making

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress-legacy/the-gop-s-failed-plan-o-inside-the-fiscal-cliff-saga-20130102

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, January 2, 2013 2:45 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

“You get nothing. I get that for free," said Obama

Rules Committee ranking Democrat Louise Slaughter of New York summed up the events: “Today’s legislation is far from perfect, and the process that led us here has been an utter disgrace.”

solitary posts...

5) Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters – Sec. 328 extends “tax exempt financing for York Liberty Zone,” which was a program to provide post-9/11 recovery funds. Rather than going to small businesses affected, however, this was, according to Bloomberg, “little more than a subsidy for fancy Manhattan apartments and office towers for Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp.” Michael Bloomberg himself actually thought the program was excessive, so that’s saying something. According to David Cay Johnston’s The Fine Print, Goldman got $1.6 billion in tax free financing for its new massive headquarters through Liberty Bonds.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/01/eight-corporate-subsidies-in-the-fiscal-cliff-bill-from-goldman-sachs-to-disney-to-nascar.html

Just a lonely guy eating Cheetos:

“If this is how we end the 112th Congress, it will disappoint every member of the class,” said freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., as he munched on Cheetos and walking alone after a GOP conference meeting on Tuesday. “This is exactly what we came to change, problems like this.… We came here to make big bold changes, and at the end of the day, for whatever reason, we frittered away most of the energy that sent us to here in 2010.”

Pobrecito.

keep eating those Cheetos, Tim, and you'll see big bold changes soon enough.

sounds like the kinda guy who sees a doctor because his dick is turning orange.

http://www.lolbrary.com/content/200/the-worst-part-about-eating-cheetos-is-all-the-crap-you-get-on-your-fingers-27200.jpg

Bleurgh.

Huelskamp a media Cheetos glutton.

http://www.morningsun.net/newsnow/x65622948/INSIGHT-KANSAS-Huelskamp-a-media-glutton

Dude is one of the more punchable asshats on news shows imo.

is that one of the guys who got famous for being 'purged'?

of Cheetos?

"We've replaced Tim Huelskamp's committee appointments with a bag of Cheetos; let's see if he noti- What? They're gone already?"

my 2013 resolution is to Custos the fuck out of any and all political threads btw

a chilling resolution

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/01/03/you_ll_have_to_wait_19_days_for_a_filibuster_reform_vote.html

Tumulty and Wallsten's framing of this is straight BS, even if they answer their own dumb question. can't keep the DC press away from 'bipartisan' catnip

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/has-the-fiscal-cliff-fight-changed-how-washington-works/2013/01/02/ee832fb0-5510-11e2-a613-ec8d394535c6_story.html

As ugly as they were, the “fiscal cliff” negotiations produced something Washington hadn’t seen in a long time: strongly bipartisan votes in the House and the Senate on a big, contentious issue.

The question now is whether that victory of pragmatism over ideology offers a new model of governing as President Obama approaches his second term and the shattered Republican Party tries to regroup

The answer: probably not, though it may have helped define the terms of engagement for the battles to come.