The House of Representatives voted 97-318 against increasing the federal borrowing limit by $2.4 trillion without preconditional spending cuts on Tuesday night. The Republican leadership designed the vote to fail: They used a …
debt ceiling
Get Rich Quick! Arbitrage Washington’s Debt Limit Dance
The debt-limit debate is fascinating on many levels. It’s a big deal because a default by the U.S. government would create an unthinkable mess. It’s also a window into the Republican Party’s continuing efforts to defy …
House Republicans’ “Clean” Debt Ceiling Vote
The GOP majority in the House is poised to move ahead with a vote on a no-strings-attached $2.4 trillion increase of the federal borrowing limit next week. Treasury Department officials have been warning Congress for months that the government is coming dangerously close to scraping up against the debt ceiling, risking market catastrophe …
The Gang Falters: Coburn Breaks from Deficit Negotiations
Senator Tom Coburn on Tuesday said that he’s “taking a break” from the Gang of Six, the Senate group that has been trying for months to reach a bipartisan deal on deficit reduction. The Oklahoma Republican’s withdrawal …
Why John Boehner Needs to Reassure Wall Street
House Speaker John Boehner will address the Economic Club of New York City on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Monday night. Though Boehner has long been an avowed friend of business – he received a 94% Chamber of Commerce rating …
Playing Politics with the Debt Ceiling
For months, Wall Street has been warning Washington not to play politics with the debt ceiling – the economic ramifications are just too great. Today, we got a glimpse of the doom and gloom to come if the debt ceiling isn’t passed: Standard & Poor’s lowered its U.S. credit outlook from “stable” to “negative.”
As Adam …
Playing Chicken with the Nation’s IOUs
This morning the Treasury officially requested that Congress raise the debt ceiling. This has been a long-anticipated move and Congress cannot fail to act as the consequences would be catastrophic: think downgrading our AAA credit status – in other words, sorry China, we will not be able to pay our debts.
But, the prospect of …
White House Debate Champ, Austan Goolsbee, Lays Down A Marker
This morning, on ABC’s This Week, White House economist Austan Goolsbee, who won a national intercollegiate debate championship as a Yale student in 1991, offered an opening statement in the coming Congressional debate over a raising of the debt ceiling this spring. Republicans plan to use the necessary move–to keep the U.S. government …