President Obama and congressional leaders Sunday night sealed a deal to raise the federal debt limit that includes sharp spending cuts but no new taxes, breaking a partisan impasse that has driven the nation to the brink of a government default.
The agreement brings to an end a self-created crisis that has consumed Washington, rattled Wall Street, and shaken confidence in the American political system at home and abroad. The deal could clear Congress as soon as Monday night ”” barely 24 hours before Treasury officials have said they could begin running short of cash to pay the nation’s bills.
Passage of the agreement, however, remained far from certain in the House, where skeptical Republicans were just beginning to digest the details….
Another Washington victory in the War on Diddly…
“includes sharp spending cuts” Untrue. A bald face lie. All it does is reduce the rate of spending increase over a ten year period if Congress does not change it. Future Congresses are not bound and history shows that they will not be bound.
This “plan” does nothing.
Here are some details: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/01/us-usa-debt-deal-fb-idUSTRE7700OL20110801
The first is blatantly unconstitutional:
[blockquote]* The deal would allow President Barack Obama to raise the debt ceiling in three steps. Congress would get a chance to register its disapproval on two of these, but would not be able to block them unless it musters a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate — an unlikely prospect.[/blockquote]
The Congress is handing over the power to appropriate money to the Executive while retaining a veto that requires a 2/3 vote in both houses. It doesn’t get more unconstitutional than that.
Such un Constitutional actions are not capable of being remedied through the surviving Constitutional checks and balances. This is no more that a Coup d’état perpetrated between the Executive and Legislative branches.
#3 You may have a point. While Congress can delegate powers it normally holds itself to the Executive branch (for example the hordes of regulatory law that Executive branch agencies issue), it cannot delegate the constitutional mechanism for over-riding the President’s veto powers. This is what sunk the line item veto on the federal level.
I’m sure a lawsuit will rise from this and there’s a good chance the US Supreme Court will remove the 2/3 override as unconstitutional.
[url=http://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/usa-debt-ceiling-crisis/]Prayers[/url].
My concern is more serious than that. The Federal Government is in the process of abrogating the Constitution. The only remaining source of legitimacy remaining in the Federal Government is its ability to use force in imposing its will.
This thing isn’t perfect, and it has flaws, but I shudder to think of what would happen if it doesn’t pass…….if the Senate doesn’t vote for it. It would affect far more than just our own country, and the recession would amount to child’s play compared with what could happen. I am sure the senators are aware of that.