Wanted to be sure you saw this White House blog post by White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer highlighting Republican opposition to short term debt limit increases. In a quick turnaround, Republicans are arguing for short-term extensions of the debt limit, which would put our economic security at risk and create uncertainty for businesses and the markets.
The White House Blog
Some Republicans in Congress Once Argued Against Short-Term Solutions - They Were Right
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on July 25, 2011 at 08:00 AM EDT
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 25, 2011
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 21, 2011
This morning, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist made a big splash by saying that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire in 2012 would not violate his organization’s pledge against tax increases.
“Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase,” Mr. Norquist told us. So it doesn’t violate the pledge? “We wouldn’t hold it that way,” he said. – Washington Post Editorial, 07/21/11
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 21, 2011
Key Point: “Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase,” Mr. Norquist told us. So it doesn’t violate the pledge? “We wouldn’t hold it that way,” he said.
Out from under the anti-tax pledge
Washington Post Editorial, Published: July 20
WITH A HANDFUL of exceptions, every Republican member of Congress has signed a pledge against increasing taxes. Would allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire as scheduled in 2012 violate this vow? We posed this question to Grover Norquist, its author and enforcer, and his answer was both surprising and encouraging: No.
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 21, 2011
Wanted to make sure you all saw this article in the New York Times outlining the damage to our fragile economy that default would do. So far, House Republicans have refused to heed the warnings and have refused to work with Democrats on a big, grand bargain approach to deficit reduction that includes revenues.
Maybe these warnings from the Times will wake them up:
“Volatility in stocks has soared, and some investors say stock prices are falling because a United States default could severely raise companies’ costs of doing business.
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 20, 2011
Republicans may be in denial about the catastrophic consequences of failing to ensure we pay America’s bills, but it’s clear that states will pay the price if Congress doesn’t come together on a balanced agreement to ensure we pay our bills. In case Republicans need a visual to understand the impact, CAP has put together an interactive map showing how states would be affected, with each losing hundreds of millions of dollars if we fail to ensure we pay our nation’s bills.
From the Center for American Progress:
Interactive Map: No Debt Limit Increase Means Big Cuts to State Services
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 20, 2011
From the Democratic Whip Press Shop:
We know that Republican debt limit antics have reached the point of absurdity when The Onion hits the nail on the head describing the Republicans’ position that’s putting our economy at risk. Republicans may be pushing our country toward default, but at least they’re pushing the bounds of satire at the same time:
Congress Continues Debate Over Whether Or Not Nation Should Be Economically Ruined
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 20, 2011
Wanted to make sure you all saw this post in the Washington Post’s Plum Line blog about how House Republicans are so dug in on the deficit issue, they are not even willing to listen to Ronald Reagan.
The post contains a letter President Reagan wrote to then-Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker in 1983, imploring him to raise the debt limit. “The full consequences of a default or even the serious prospect of default by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate,” Reagan wrote. “The Nation can ill afford to allow such a result.”
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 20, 2011
With less than two weeks to go before America defaults on its debts, House Republican Freshman are still trying to score political points and push their extreme agenda, even if it means America not paying its bills for the first time. Or even if it means turning on their own party leaders.
As Politico reports:
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 20, 2011
While we’re all focused on talks to ensure America pays its bills and we reduce the deficit, this NY Times article caught our attention. Hypocrisy is alive and well among House Republicans:
“Freshman House Republicans who rode a wave of voter discontent into office last year vowed to stop out-of-control spending, but that has not stopped several of them from quietly trying to funnel millions of federal dollars into projects back home.”
PRESS STAFF BLOG: Jul 20, 2011
Now that House Republicans have taken a symbolic vote on their radically ideological “Cut, Cap and End Medicare” bill, perhaps they will listen to the majority of Americans who support a big, balanced agreement and work with Democrats on a compromise that includes both revenues and spending cuts to ensure we pay America’s bills and reduce the deficit.
From the Wall Street Journal: