VladimirPee

Pay attention. Democrats have always squealed about cuts. ALWAYS. Even Bill Clinton who fought Newt when the GOP demanded he balance the budget

Lou Loc: Florida

You're still not there Dennis .Maybe in the future when you grow up .

VladimirPee

Dispute what I have said with something factual.

Lou Loc: Florida

Special interests are focused narrowly on their own issue to the exclusion of others, and rather than on coherent policy agenda in the broad public interest. It's a sort of patchwork series of special interest hobby horses that will get passed in the House and die in the Senate, or wh**ever, or won't get past committee. Often these are just partisan amendments to make the other side take a tough v**e, like you'll see a******n amendments on all kinds of extraneous legislation where it doesn't belong. And the Democrats do some of the same things. One year they tried to stick a major immigration bill on the Defense Authorization bill, which, setting aside whether you're for or against the substance of the immigration legislation, really doesn't belong on a defense bill. There should be a focus on broader public interest things, like bills to keep the government funded and keep the trains rolling.

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT

BigMike Loc: yerington nv

Bro, the Republicans don't squeal about cuts, but they don't cut either. Spending has done nothing but go up at a rate that has eaten away at difference between spending and the GDP since I've started paying attention. Both parties are guilty of this and its kind of counterproductive to blame the Democrats. Its not all their fault. The important thing for Republicans AND Democrats is to hold Washington responsible for the crazy way they blow money.

Lou Loc: Florida

And with the recurring dance between Republicans and Democrats to raise the country’s debt ceiling set to recommence this fall, both sides would do well to heed his warning.

Already the political posturing suggests they won’t.

Some Republicans made it known last week that they’ll seek to hold the debt-ceiling hostage unless lawmakers agree to strip funding for President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

According to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, “Sen. Richard M. Burr on Thursday took aim at conservatives who have threatened to shut down the federal government if the 2010 health care law is not defunded, calling it the ‘dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.’”

Burr, who made his comments to Public Radio International, is not exactly a liberal stalwart. He’s a North Carolina Republican who has been vocal in his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, and in this particular instance he’s right. The ACA isn’t going anywhere until Republicans gain control of the House, Senate and White House. Using the debt-ceiling to try to leverage its repeal represents a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money.

Other Republicans want to tie passage of the debt-ceiling measure to much deeper cuts in federal spending. The president and Democrats in Congress want Republicans to just shut up and raise the ceiling so the government can continue to pay its bills, though the president has signaled that he’s open to suggestions.

It would be nice if Republicans would stop tilting at windmills, get over the fact that they lost the v**e on Obamacare and acknowledge that funding the government means more than just paying for military operations. Sometimes they have to hold their noses and say yes.

And Democrats should realize that, with a $16.7 trillion debt, federal spending at historical levels is unrealistic and, more importantly, unsustainable. Between spending on domestic programs, entitlements and defense, it inevitable that a day of reckoning is coming.

What’s at stake is more than just whether we repeat the 1995 showdown that resulted in the temporary shutdown of the federal government, which is one possible consequence if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling in a timely fashion. (Ask Newt Gingrich how that worked out for Republicans.)

The greater issue is whether we, as a country, will continue to control our own destiny as something resembling a fiscal superpower, or whether we’ll lurch and stumble along in a perpetual state of gridlock, devolving into something less.

We don’t have to end up like Greece, but let’s not pretend that getting our country’s house in order is going to be easy or that any political faction – including the e*****rate – is less culpable than any other. Because, as the late Sen. Warren B. Rudman once said, “The blame for (the national debt) lies with the Congress and the president, with Democrats and Republicans alike, most all of whom have been unwilling to make the hard choices or to explain to the American people that there is no such thing as a free lunch.”

Lou Loc: Florida

Learn anything yet dennis ?

VladimirPee

Ask Newt how it worked out? IT BALANCED THE BUDGET and You DEMS have been bragging and trying to claim credit for it ever since

mtman2

"Outv**ed".....Oba-don't care, was shoved through the night before Scott Brown took office. Typical to bypass the public scrutiny and an honest debate by the Left. "72-hrs on line before a v**e for public to see...", "most t***sparent Ad. in history", NOT! Absolute crooks aided by gutless RINO's.

Lou Loc: Florida

Call it all what you want . It all comes down to partisan bullsheet .