Sides edging toward a short-term deal to increase the debt limit

[chill_wind]

Source: The Hill

Sides edging toward a short-term deal to increase the debt limit
By Russell Berman and Sam Youngman - 07/20/11 08:37 PM ET

Members of the Senate’s Gang of Six began on Wednesday to sell the group’s bipartisan deficit-reduction proposal to House Democrats as the likelihood grew that lawmakers would need to approve a short-term increase to the $14.3 trillion debt limit.

The pressure of the ticking clock weighed on officials both in the White House and at the Capitol, who cheered the new Senate proposal but acknowledged there was not enough time to enact it before the Aug. 2 deadline to avoid an unprecedented default by the U.S. government.

With 12 days remaining, President Obama summoned congressional leaders of each party to the White House for separate meetings, and his chief spokesman said for the first time that Obama would sign a “very short-term” extension of the debt limit if Congress agreed to a long-term deficit-reduction deal. The president had previously said he would veto any stopgap measure.

“The president does not support a short-term extension of the debt limit, period,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said. “The only exception to that is in the event that both sides reach a deal on a long-term extension of the debt limit plus significant deficit reduction, and we needed a very short-term extension, like a few days, to allow a bit of extra time for a bill to work its way through the legislative process.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/172685-sides-edging-toward-short-term-debt-deal

[DFW]

1. It figures

Kick the can down the road a mile or two so as to have a few more days for everyone to posture.

This reminds me of that parody captioned photo of Nixon right before he resigned. Nixon is looking
straight at the TV camera in the Oval Office, and he's saying, "The time has come to address the
difficult questions. Thank you, and good night."

[chill_wind]

2. Obama open to short-term debt deal

(Bloomberg)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1535830

[russspeakeasy]

3. We played this as a kid...it's called kick the can.

The chickenshits in office don't want to risk their their cushy jobs for ethics.

[JDPriestly]

4. Obama and Congress are so good at wasting time on

sideshows.

Jobs are the issue here and now. Jobs and ending the trade deals that have cost us our industrial base as well as our jobs.