Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Mitch McConnell Predicts Debt Ceiling Won't Be Raised Without A Hostage

WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that the nation's debt limit won't be raised unless Republicans can extract concessions from Democrats and President Barack Obama.

The borrowing limit, which was suspended until Feb. 7, 2014, as part of the deal to end the government shutdown in the fall, stands at about $17.2 trillion. The Treasury Department estimates that without a hike, it can keep paying the nation's bills only until sometime in March.

The budget agreement that passed the House overwhelmingly last week and is set for passage in the Senate -- likely on Wednesday -- would also require a boost in the debt ceiling in order to carry out the spending that it mandates. But McConnell said Republicans would not allow that.

"I doubt if the House or, for that matter, the Senate is willing to give the president a clean debt ceiling increase," McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill. "Every time the president asks us to raise the debt ceiling is a good time to try to achieve something important for the country."

He added that holding the borrowing cap hostage is the only way the GOP can get Obama to negotiate.

"I think the debt ceiling legislation is a time that brings us all together and gets the president's attention, which with this president, particularly when it comes to reducing spending, has been a bit of a challenge," McConnell said.

He did not lay out what demands the GOP would make. "We'll have to see what the House insists on adding to it as a condition of passage," McConnell said.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made similar remarks on Sunday, saying, "We don’t want nothing out of this debt limit."

For his part, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he didn't see Republicans being up for another damaging showdown over something that's essential to keeping the government and economy moving after they were so battered over the October shutdown.

"I can't imagine the Republicans want another fight on debt ceiling," Reid told reporters. "We've passed two debt ceilings in the very recent past, and we should do another one."

Still, Republican lawmakers are taking criticism from right-wing groups over the current budget deal, and those same groups oppose hiking the debt limit. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) suggested last week that such organizations would no longer have much influence in Congress, but they have sway with GOP lawmakers facing primaries next year, such as McConnell.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com/
Author: Michael McAuliff 

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