Governent Shutdown
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The Centrist Cop-Out
As I said, it’s not complicated. Yet many people in the news media apparently can’t bring themselves to acknowledge this simple reality. News reports portray the parties as equally intransigent; pundits fantasize about some kind of “centrist” uprising, as if the problem was too much partisanship on both sides.
Posted at 03:13 PM ET, 07/27/2011 Jul 27, 2011 07:13 PM EDT TheWashingtonPost
McCain erupts: Conservatives are lying to America - The Plum Line
A number of commentators seem shocked at how unreasonable Republicans are being. “Has the G.O.P. gone insane?” they ask.
Getting to Crazy
After pushing the government to brink of shutdown last week, Republican Congressional leaders are now preparing to push America to the edge of default by refusing to increase the nation’s debt limit without first getting Democrats to concede to large spending cuts. But while the four Republicans in Congressional leadership positions are attempting to hold the increase hostage now, they combined to vote for a debt limit increase 19 times during the presidency of George W. Bush. In doing so, they increased the debt limit by nearly $4 trillion. At the beginning of the Bush presidency, the United States debt limit was $5.95 trillion. Despite promises that he would pay off the debt in 10 years , Bush increased the debt to $9.815 trillion by the end of his term, with plenty of help from the four Republicans currently holding Congressional leadership positions: Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl.
During Bush Presidency, Current GOP Leaders Voted 19 Times To Increase Debt Limit By $4 Trillion
Budget compromise will cut education and science research, but not defense - National Political Buzz
From the Poor to the Rich
On Tuesday, Paul Ryan, the chair of the House Budget Committee, released a 2012 Republican budget proposal that eviscerates America’s safety net and support structure for the elderly, poor, and disabled to finance massive corporate subsidies and tax cuts for the wealthy. Ryan’s budget would restructure the government as we know it, and is the most honest reflection of the Republican vision for America’s future: a country where the most disadvantaged are given little help or support, while the wealthiest laugh all the way to the bank. Ryan’s budget claims savings of $6 trillion over the next decade.
We Don't Need to Shut Down the Government: Tax the Wealthy and Deadbeat Corporations to Close Budget Gaps
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