After four months of a lot of fury regarding the debt ceiling, Democrats did what they needed to do against Republican obstructionism and chaos. They approved in the House and Senate a bill to raise the debt ceiling, and not visit the debt ceiling again until January 2025.
The vote was as follows.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2023/house-vote-debt-ceiling-deal/
House of Representatives
314 yes to 117 no
165 DEM and 149 GOP voted yes
46 DEM and 71 GOP voted no
2 DEM and 2 GOP did not vote
In the Senate, a similar situation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2023/senate-debt-ceiling-vote-count-result/
63 yes to 36 no
44 DEM, 17 GOP, 2 IND voted yes
4 DEM, 31 GOP, 1 IND voted no
1 GOP did not vote
The bill was secured by Democrats and the center for both parties. Outside the center members voted against it for various reasons (GOP not enough cuts to damage America, DEM new work requirements and promoting fossil fuel pipelines).
The absurd situation is similar to the following. You run up $10,000 on your credit card and hit the limit. You tell the credit card company “Cancel some of what I spent, suspend my limit, I’ll pay the rest by saving 1% more.” Your future budget has no impact on your prior spending. The credit card company would laugh in your face.
Except, the debt limit is the government’s ability to borrow money to pay for previously approved bills. Sending America into default would damage America and the entire world’s economy. Deadly serious. Chaos and destruction of the financial system, accelerating an authoritarian, white nationalist takeover, jobs lost, businesses closed, impairing President Biden’s ability to re-run for election, those were the goals of the debt ceiling hostage taking. The GOP admitted as such.
[O]n Tuesday, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz leaned into the charge as he explained to reporters that he and his fellow hardline conservatives would likely reject any sort of compromise deal that watered down the party-line bill Republicans passed through the House. “I think my conservative colleagues for the most part support Limit, Save, Grow, and they don’t feel like we should negotiate with our hostage,” Gaetz told Semafor.
MSNBC
“And what does the device of two years do?” North Carolina Representative Dan Bishop posed incredulously on Tuesday, flanked by far-right colleagues like Lauren Boebert and Byron Donalds. “It removes the issue from the national conversation during the presidential election to come. How could you more successfully kneecap any Republican president than to take that issue out of his or her hands?”
Daily Kos
Major markets are liking the news that debt default is off the table for two years. Markets like certainty, which is odd, since life is anything but certain.
The economy hums along, with 339,000 jobs added in May and unemployment staying near decade lows.
With the rise of generative AI and large language models, it’s a ripe environment for misinformation and disinformation. Double and triple check your sources before believing something is true.
We dodged a self-inflicted gun wound to our head. For now. I expect Republicans to employ the Two Santa strategy again in 2025, if a Democrat wins as President, and Republicans control one branch of Congress.
Wishing you better financial and mental health.
Sincerely yours,
smilingdad
Copyright © 2023 smilingdad. The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by and do not necessarily represent the views of smilingdad, its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.
smilingdad 