I am all in favor of budget cuts in order to curb federal spendng.
We should start by cutting congressional salaries, health insurance, travel allowances, and office expenses. They get paid about 175,000 dollars plus perks.
They may also accept any and all donations of travel expenses, as long as they report them on the taxes. Of course, Justice Clarence Thomas never did. He was above all that tax-paying stuff.
What perks do the various branches of congressional representatives get? They may have a staff of as many as 18 staffers that do all the actual work.
And then the perks.
Health Benefits. CBO employees participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, which offers a range of options for health care coverage. …
If I run up a credit card debt with no intention of paying the bill, that is considered “fraud” and I may be prosecuted on criminal charges.
If Congress runs up the National Debt with no intention of paying the bill, that should be prosecutable with criminal charges against those representatives who voted for the initial increase in National Debt, but had no intention of voting to pay for the bill.
IMO that is tantamount to fraud and President Biden by declaring Martial Law should be able to arrest these representatives on charges of fraud.
I think that would stop this silliness once and for all.
Yes, you don’t use a credit card to restrict your budget. It is to afford flexibility.
Regardless, when you make the purchase, you must pay the bill or be held responsible for the debt.
Even so, the Repugs should not be holding programs that help people hostage. Then again, that is what the Repugs are all about- helping large corporations, big pharma and the rich, but not the people who actually need help, such as the poor, children, and elderly.
President Clinton managed to accumulate a budget surplus that he was going to use to pay down the debt and use the interest saving for social programs, such as infrastructure.
Bush promptly wasted that savings with a trillion dollar tax break , which always favors the rich .
“Reagan took the deficit from $70 billion to $175 billion. Bush 41 took it to $300 billion. Clinton got it to zero. Bush 43 took it from zero to $1.2 trillion. Obama halved it to $600 billion. Trump’s got it back to a trillion.”
Finally the Democrats are beginning to speak of applying Constitutional law that specifically states:
14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
Section 4.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.
Heather Cox Richardson spoke to this. The Republicans are looking for a way to end this that doesn’t look like they caved. If Biden acts, they’ll say they are the victims
If Biden acts it will be adhering to law, whereas the Republicans are willfully trying to act unlawfully and I consider that a form of treason.
The only thing Republicans respect is power. I think it’s time for Biden show who is in power and that there are consequences to playing slipshod over the Constitution.
Katie Porter does a nice job of putting that into perspective:
May 23, 2023
The debt ceiling doesn’t keep the national debt down, but it does threaten long-term financial harm. Rep. Katie Porter applied a debt ceiling to everyday life to explain why it doesn’t work.
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell offers his new theory of why President Biden might be doing everything right on the debt ceiling based on experience, guesswork, and the fact that the White House has the two most experienced negotiators – President Biden and Steve Ricchetti.
Let’s hope not.
Chris Hayes has a good related report, just how serious are Republicans about spending - or is it all about defeating Democrats, torpedos be damned?
Chris Hayes: “The Republican calculus is simple: Spend like there’s no tomorrow when you’re in power because it helps you politically. When you’re out of power, do everything possible to stop Democrats from spending in order to hurt them.”
The 14th Amendmenrt does not need debating or legislating. It is existing Law!
Apply the law and those who do not adhere to the law are subject to arrest immediately.
Those cases can beadudicated later, after the debt ceiling has been passed in order to pay for a legitimate debt that congress passed and spent previously to begin with.
Intentionally not paying your legitimate debt is “fraud” and is a felony crime, regardless of extraneous considerations.
A future budget has NOTHING to do with current debt.
Sadly that seems beside the point when it comes to current politics.
There’s the little matter of a third or more of our US Representatives being lawless vandals, with an awful lot of fanatic fans out here believing vandalism is better than cooperation.
