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...A new package of proposed House rules for the 118th Congress was released just hours ahead of what many Republicans anticipated would be a final vote to elect Republican Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Calif., as a new House speaker.
The posted package is the first time the public has had an opportunity to see many of the of the concessions that McCarthy has made to a far-right bloc of members who have denied him the votes needed to clinch the gavel for four day.
The 12-page package includes new rules that, if the package passes, would significantly cut the federal government budget next year, establish several new panels to investigate Republican priorities, raise the vote threshold needed to approve tax increases from a simple majority up to a super majority, and lower the threshold needed to force a no confidence vote in the speaker.
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... Congressman Andrew Ogles (R-TN) ...
... shared with me a list of some of what has been roughly negotiated to date. ......
- As has been reported, it will only take a single congressperson, acting in what is known as a Jeffersonian Motion, to move to remove the Speaker if he or she goes back on their word or policy agenda.
- A “Church” style committee will be convened to look into the weaponization of the FBI and other government organizations (presumably the CIA, the subject of the original Church Committee) against the American people.
- Term limits will be put up for a vote.
- Bills presented to Congress will be single subject, not omnibus with all the attendant earmarks, and there will be a 72-hour minimum period to read them.
- The Texas Border Plan will be put before Congress. From The Hill: “The four-pronged plan aims to ‘Complete Physical Border Infrastructure,’ ‘Fix Border Enforcement Policies,’ ‘Enforce our Laws in the Interior’ and ‘Target Cartels & Criminal Organizations.'”
- COVID mandates will be ended as will all funding for them, including so-called “emergency funding.”
- Budget bills would stop the endless increases in the debt ceiling and hold the Senate accountable for the same.
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Those who capitulated in exchange for these concessions ...
Should have stonewalled him ad finitum. Eventually a better candidate would find consensus.... really had no path to achieve any better outcome. If you think they made a mistake, what do you think they should have done and what do think your alternative would have ultimately achieved?
Should have stonewalled him ad finitum. Eventually a better candidate would find consensus.
Imho, that should have been written into the Constitution to begin with. If a proposed new law can't stand on its own, it's not worthy of becoming a law.Bills presented to Congress will be single subject, not omnibus with all the attendant earmarks
It's called 'negotiation'. He had to agree to gain consensus otherwise he wouldn't have the cherished Pelosi hammer.McCarthy caved and gave the concession holdouts all or just about all (I haven't seen/heard any reports on concessions that weren't agreed to) that they wanted.
We inherited that bit from jolly 'ol England.Imho, that should have been written into the Constitution to begin with. If a proposed new law can't stand on its own, it's not worthy of becoming a law.
I'd say it's past time we give it back.We inherited that bit from jolly 'ol England.
"Raise the roof up!"
What's hard, is overstating how dangerous she is.Hard to overstate how dangerous this is,” she said.
The real test will come when the debt ceiling comes up again in the fall
i think they covered it in the lame duck bill they just passed........i think the next hit is in sept or octdebt ceiling = this coming Thursday
i think they covered it in the lame duck bill they just passed........i think the next hit is in sept or oct
Debt ceiling should not he increased. Shut it down. ...
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What are the consequences of a US default?
No one really knows exactly what would happen, but the likelihood is that markets around the world would plunge and global interest rates would rise.
This is because if the US government could not repay the money it owed bondholders, the value of the bonds would decrease. And the yield - the return the government pays to an investor - would rise. This is because it would be perceived as a less safe investment.
This would prompt interest rates around the world, which are often tied to those of US Treasuries, to spike.
Furthermore, the impact on the US's creditors could be dire. Japan, for instance, owns about $1.14 trillion of US debt - which is equivalent to 20% of its annual economic output.
In the US, Goldman Sachs estimates that $175bn would immediately be withdrawn from the US economy and it could lead to a very deep recession.
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The very idea of a U.S. default remains so incongruous that the reaction in financial markets isn’t the only unknown. The current showdown in Washington also has raised big questions about the financial-systems infrastructure. It’s a bit like Y2K — no one knows how the computers will respond.
“We do not believe and the market does not believe it’s a likely scenario,” said Rob Toomey, SIFMA managing director, capital markets and associate general counsel. “But it would be a real problem scenario for the system generally and operations and settlement specifically.”
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Many analysts, including Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi, think it’s highly likely that a financial market freak-out — think of the day in 2008 when Congress initially failed to pass the Troubled Asset Relief Program legislation meant to address the financial crisis — would stop any of the scenarios SIFMA envisions before they happen, or a few minutes after midnight on the day they will.
What Koltun calls a “game of chicken” also may already be denting the economy. The last two times Congress came close to not raising the debt limit, in 2011 and 2013, Moody’s Analytics found, “heightened uncertainty at the time reduced business investment and hiring and weighed heavily on GDP growth. If not for this uncertainty, by mid-2015, real GDP would have been $180 billion, or more than 1%, higher; there would have been 1.2 million more jobs; and the unemployment rate would have been 0.7 percentage point lower.”
Uncertainty rippling through the Treasury market in 2013 cost taxpayers anywhere from $40 million to $70 million, Barclay’s reckons.
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debt ceiling = this coming Thursday
i think they covered it in the lame duck bill they just passed........i think the next hit is in sept or oct
When Congress passes spending bills, the Treasury dept doesn't immediately sell all the T-bills necessary to raise funds for the estimated budget. Congress makes obligations and the Treasury Dept manages cash flow. We are already overextended. The debt ceiling impacts our ability to pay existing obligations, not just future legislation.... The debt ceiling is about taking on more debt. ...
Issuing new debt is how they get the bulk of the $$$ to pay off the old debt. It's all just rolled over.The debt ceiling is about taking on more debt. Not taking on debt is different from defaulting on existing debt obligations.
Reconcile what you just said with the fact that less than 25% of tax receipts are used to service debt.Issuing new debt is how they get the bulk of the $$$ to pay off the old debt. It's all just rolled over.
Have to raise the ceiling in order to keep paying.
Servicing debt is not the same as paying the principle of the debt.Reconcile what you just said with the fact that less than 25% of tax receipts are used to service debt.
Dear Mr. Speaker:
I write to keep you apprised of actions the Treasury Department is taking in regard to the debt limit. In my letter of January 13, 2023, I noted that Public Law 117-73 increased the statutory debt limit to a level of $31.381 trillion, and informed you that beginning on January 19, the outstanding debt of the United States was projected to reach the statutory limit. This letter serves to notify you, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 8348(l)(2), of the extraordinary measures Treasury began using today.
First, I have determined that, by reason of the statutory debt limit, I will be unable to fully invest the portion of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) not immediately required to pay beneficiaries, and that a “debt issuance suspension period” will begin on Thursday, January 19, 2023, and last through Monday, June 5, 2023. My predecessors have declared debt issuance suspension periods under similar circumstances. With these determinations, the Treasury Department will suspend additional investments of amounts credited to, and redeem a portion of the investments held by, the CSRDF, as expressly authorized by law.
In addition, because the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 provides that investments in the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF) shall be made in the same manner as investments for the CSRDF, Treasury will suspend additional investments of amounts credited to the PSRHBF. By law, the CSRDF and the PSRHBF will be made whole once the debt limit is increased or suspended. Federal retirees and employees will be unaffected by these actions.
As I stated in my January 13 letter, the period of time that extraordinary measures may last is subject to considerable uncertainty, including the challenges of forecasting the payments and receipts of the U.S. Government months into the future. I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States.
Sincerely,
Janet L. Yellen
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