When Republicans caved on raising the debt limit last year, we referred to the final Boehner proposal as a ground ball into a double play.  Not only did Boehner fail to secure any transformational change in exchange for raising the debt ceiling (except for cutting the military), he actually obviated our leverage in future budget battles.

As part of the debt limit agreement, Congress passed the Budget [out of] Control Act, which totally abrogated the discretionary spending levels set under the much vaunted Ryan budget.  In fact, it hindered our leverage over budget battles for the next ten years.  For FY 2012, the BCA set the discretionary spending level at $1.043 trillion, $24 billion above the Ryan budget. [Ultimately, due to non-offset emergency spending, they wound up spending $1.053 trillion.]  For this coming fiscal year, the BCA set budget authority at $1.047 trillion (not including emergency spending), $19 billion above the level established in the Ryun budget for FY 2013.

To be clear, there is nothing stopping Republicans from rectifying their mistake and setting discretionary spending levels lower than those specified in the BCA.  It’s just that many Republicans, as predicted, are squeamish about going back on their commitment to Democrats.  Some of our buddies on the appropriations committee are already contemplating a House budget that mirrors the BCA spending levels:

Not passing a budget is also undesirable for the House GOP, as it has pilloried Senate Democrats for deciding not to pass a budget resolution this year and for relying on the Budget Control Act.

“That’s problematic. We might not pass a budget, who knows?” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a Member of both the Budget and Appropriations committees.

Some Republicans on the panel, such as Simpson, want to pass a budget in line with July’s Budget Control Act, which set spending levels for fiscal 2013 at
$1.047 trillion. Conservatives, on the other hand, want to bring the number down to fall in line with House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s original number of about $1.028 trillion. […]

“If you’ve got a group of people that are going to vote ‘no’ no matter what because any money is too much money, then you’re going to need Democratic support, and that means the number has to go — guess what? — up to [$1.047 trillion],” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a member of both the Budget and Appropriations committees. […]

“We all know that once it gets down to negotiations with the Senate, it will be done within that framework,” he said. “If the Budget Control Act says [$1.047 trillion], that’s where you’re going to be. Do you really want to structure something that you know you’re not going to hit that number, pass it, and then at the end of the day look like you caved in the fall by going up to [$1.047 trillion]?”

Congressman Cole, the only reason “we’re not going to hit that number” is because people like you – the ones who bequeathed us with the BCA – will cave again.

There is also another complication in the budget process as a result of the impending sequestration.  Fiscal year 2013 runs from October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012, but starting in calendar year 2013, the automatic sequestration will take effect.  According to CBO, there will be an automatic rescission of $97 billion in across-the-board discretionary spending from any level of spending set at the beginning of the fiscal year.  Roughly 50% of the cuts will be incurred by the military.  The FY 2013 budget offers Republicans the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by parrying the cuts away from the military and onto the destructive branches of government.

Here’s what they should do:  Start with the $1.028 trillion topline figure under the Ryan budget, and cut $97 billion off of non-security discretionary spending at the beginning of the year.  In other words, they should set the topline figure at $931 billion.  Where will they find the $112 billion in non-security cuts?  There’s no dearth of options.  We can cut the departments of Education, Commerce, Green Energy, and HUD (roughly $163 billion).  Oh, and we can also devolve most highway spending back to the states, saving $50 billion a year.  There’s also plenty of low-hanging fruit within Agriculture, Labor, and HHS.

Hey, as conservatives, we believe in forgiveness and second chances.  House Republicans have another chance to get it right.  On the other hand, the congressional primaries are just around the corner.  We need more members with the fighting spirit of Andrew Breitbart, not the surrender spirit of Mitch McConnell.

Cross-posted from The Madison Project

When Republicans caved on raising the debt limit last year, we referred to the final Boehner proposal as a ground ball into a double play.  Not only did Boehner fail to secure any transformational change in exchange for raising the debt ceiling (except for cutting the military), he actually obviated our leverage in future budget battles.

As part of the debt limit agreement, Congress passed the Budget [out of] Control Act, which totally abrogated the discretionary spending levels set under the much vaunted Ryan budget.  In fact, it hindered our leverage over budget battles for the next ten years.  For FY 2012, the BCA set the discretionary spending level at $1.043 trillion, $24 billion above the Ryan budget. [Ultimately, due to non-offset emergency spending, they wound up spending $1.053 trillion.]  For this coming fiscal year, the BCA set budget authority at $1.047 trillion (not including emergency spending), $19 billion above the level established in the Ryun budget for FY 2013.

To be clear, there is nothing stopping Republicans from rectifying their mistake and setting discretionary spending levels lower than those specified in the BCA.  It’s just that many Republicans, as predicted, are squeamish about going back on their commitment to Democrats.  Some of our buddies on the appropriations committee are already contemplating a House budget that mirrors the BCA spending levels:

Not passing a budget is also undesirable for the House GOP, as it has pilloried Senate Democrats for deciding not to pass a budget resolution this year and for relying on the Budget Control Act.

“That’s problematic. We might not pass a budget, who knows?” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a Member of both the Budget and Appropriations committees.

Some Republicans on the panel, such as Simpson, want to pass a budget in line with July’s Budget Control Act, which set spending levels for fiscal 2013 at
$1.047 trillion. Conservatives, on the other hand, want to bring the number down to fall in line with House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s original number of about $1.028 trillion. […]

“If you’ve got a group of people that are going to vote ‘no’ no matter what because any money is too much money, then you’re going to need Democratic support, and that means the number has to go — guess what? — up to [$1.047 trillion],” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a member of both the Budget and Appropriations committees. […]

“We all know that once it gets down to negotiations with the Senate, it will be done within that framework,” he said. “If the Budget Control Act says [$1.047 trillion], that’s where you’re going to be. Do you really want to structure something that you know you’re not going to hit that number, pass it, and then at the end of the day look like you caved in the fall by going up to [$1.047 trillion]?”

Congressman Cole, the only reason “we’re not going to hit that number” is because people like you – the ones who bequeathed us with the BCA – will cave again.

There is also another complication in the budget process as a result of the impending sequestration.  Fiscal year 2013 runs from October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012, but starting in calendar year 2013, the automatic sequestration will take effect.  According to CBO, there will be an automatic rescission of $97 billion in across-the-board discretionary spending from any level of spending set at the beginning of the fiscal year.  Roughly 50% of the cuts will be incurred by the military.  The FY 2013 budget offers Republicans the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by parrying the cuts away from the military and onto the destructive branches of government.

Here’s what they should do:  Start with the $1.028 trillion topline figure under the Ryan budget, and cut $97 billion off of non-security discretionary spending at the beginning of the year.  In other words, they should set the topline figure at $931 billion.  Where will they find the $112 billion in non-security cuts?  There’s no dearth of options.  We can cut the departments of Education, Commerce, Green Energy, and HUD (roughly $163 billion).  Oh, and we can also devolve most highway spending back to the states, saving $50 billion a year.  There’s also plenty of low-hanging fruit within Agriculture, Labor, and HHS.

Hey, as conservatives, we believe in forgiveness and second chances.  House Republicans have another chance to get it right.  On the other hand, the congressional primaries are just around the corner.  We need more members with the fighting spirit of Andrew Breitbart, not the surrender spirit of Mitch McConnell.

Cross-posted from The Madison Project

When Republicans agreed to raise the debt ceiling last year, not only did they credit Obama’s credit card by $2.1 trillion, they also gave him a lifeline until after the election.  At the time, it was projected that $2.1 trillion in new debt allowance was sufficient to last until January 2013, sparing Obama the embarrassment of raising the debt ceiling right before the election.  Well, it appears that we’ve blown through the new debt so quickly that we might bump up against the $16.394 trillion debt ceiling before November 2012.

Last week, Senator Rob Portman released an analysis showing that we will reach the debt ceiling before the end of the fiscal year:

According to Table 6-2 in the President’s Budget’s “Analytical Perspectives” volume, the President estimates the total debt subject to the statutory limit – growing by $132 billion per month – will reach $16.334 trillion at the end of FY 2012 (September 30, 2012). This is just $60 billion below the current debt limit.  Thus, without a change in the debt trajectory, the debt ceiling will be eclipsed by October 15, 2012 unless the Department of Treasury again uses emergency protocols to shift that date past Election Day 2012.

Keep in mind that with passage of the extenders package, we will incur an additional $100 billion in debt by the end of the fiscal year.  At this pace, we will blow through the new debt limit by a rate of almost $5 billion per day.  Geithner is claiming that the deadline will be after the election, but it is still likely to come before Obama leaves office.  Moreover, these projections are predicated on higher levels of revenue, not lower levels of spending.  If economic growth stalls again, particularly due to higher oil prices, the revenues will tail off, bringing us closer to the debt limit at an even earlier date.

It is becoming quite evident that the two months leading up to the election will look at lot like July of last year, when DC was enmeshed in the heated battle over the debt ceiling.  It will also be a propitious time for Republicans to grow a spine.

We rarely get a second chance to do the right thing, but it looks like we will get another opportunity to stand strong and force transformational change in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.  This time the stakes will be sky-high.  All the Republicans who pledged to cut spending and fight against more debt, but failed miserably last year, will have one more opportunity to stand behind Cut, Cap, and Balance (CCB).

Last August, only 66 House Republicans, or 27% of the Republican Conference, voted against the debt ceiling deal.  The rest voted to kill CCB.  Just 19 Republican senators voted against this travesty.  Ever since last August, many of the yea votes have been inveighing against the debt deal and complaining that they were dealt a bad hand.  As primary challenges to these members begin to mount, they are stepping up their outrage over the debt.   Well, it’s never too early to start repenting.  In the likelihood that we will reach the debt ceiling before Obama’s term expires, how many of them are willing to commit to CCB or bust?

Cross-posted from The Madison Project

When Republicans agreed to raise the debt ceiling last year, not only did they credit Obama’s credit card by $2.1 trillion, they also gave him a lifeline until after the election.  At the time, it was projected that $2.1 trillion in new debt allowance was sufficient to last until January 2013, sparing Obama the embarrassment of raising the debt ceiling right before the election.  Well, it appears that we’ve blown through the new debt so quickly that we might bump up against the $16.394 trillion debt ceiling before November 2012.

Last week, Senator Rob Portman released an analysis showing that we will reach the debt ceiling before the end of the fiscal year:

According to Table 6-2 in the President’s Budget’s “Analytical Perspectives” volume, the President estimates the total debt subject to the statutory limit – growing by $132 billion per month – will reach $16.334 trillion at the end of FY 2012 (September 30, 2012). This is just $60 billion below the current debt limit.  Thus, without a change in the debt trajectory, the debt ceiling will be eclipsed by October 15, 2012 unless the Department of Treasury again uses emergency protocols to shift that date past Election Day 2012.

Keep in mind that with passage of the extenders package, we will incur an additional $100 billion in debt by the end of the fiscal year.  At this pace, we will blow through the new debt limit by a rate of almost $5 billion per day.  Geithner is claiming that the deadline will be after the election, but it is still likely to come before Obama leaves office.  Moreover, these projections are predicated on higher levels of revenue, not lower levels of spending.  If economic growth stalls again, particularly due to higher oil prices, the revenues will tail off, bringing us closer to the debt limit at an even earlier date.

It is becoming quite evident that the two months leading up to the election will look at lot like July of last year, when DC was enmeshed in the heated battle over the debt ceiling.  It will also be a propitious time for Republicans to grow a spine.

We rarely get a second chance to do the right thing, but it looks like we will get another opportunity to stand strong and force transformational change in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.  This time the stakes will be sky-high.  All the Republicans who pledged to cut spending and fight against more debt, but failed miserably last year, will have one more opportunity to stand behind Cut, Cap, and Balance (CCB).

Last August, only 66 House Republicans, or 27% of the Republican Conference, voted against the debt ceiling deal.  The rest voted to kill CCB.  Just 19 Republican senators voted against this travesty.  Ever since last August, many of the yea votes have been inveighing against the debt deal and complaining that they were dealt a bad hand.  As primary challenges to these members begin to mount, they are stepping up their outrage over the debt.   Well, it’s never too early to start repenting.  In the likelihood that we will reach the debt ceiling before Obama’s term expires, how many of them are willing to commit to CCB or bust?

Cross-posted from The Madison Project

It is time to replace the GOP leadership in both Houses of Congress as both Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have proven once again that they are unable to deal with Obama and lead the Party. Again and again, even when in positions of strength, they get sucked into failed negotiations and compromises with the Democrats and deals they sell as wins for our side are handed back to us with a smirk and a laugh by the President as he violates our Constitution and his own promises and sticks a knife in the backs of the American people and gives it a hearty twist to boot. The President is going to add another $1.2 trillion dollars of debt on the backs of the People and has killed the desperately needed jobs and energy cost relief that the Keystone XL pipeline would have provided the American people. He’s actually doing a better job helping the economy of China than he is here at home where millions of our own citizens are suffering. Wake up America before it’s too late.

Earlier today, the House voted to disapprove of Obama’s request for an additional $1.2 trillion increase in the debt ceiling.  Needless to say, they failed to garner the requisite two-thirds majority to preclude Obama from issuing more debt.  The total federal debt will inexorably rise to at least $16.4 trillion by the end of the year.

But wait.  Didn’t we pass a Budget Control Act to usher in a new era of budget austerity?

On August 1, the total federal debt stood at $14,342,358,440,969.10.  Today, it stands at $15,236,288,061,558.65.  That’s an increase of $894 billion.  What’s the significance of August 1?  That is the day Congress passed the Budget Out-of-Control Act.  It took us from the country’s founding until 1982 to accrue $894 billion in debt, yet we have accomplished that in a half year.

Thus, on average, we have incurred an additional $5.26 billion in debt since passage of the debt deal.  That’s $219 million per hour.

As Senator DeMint noted today, “This isn’t what winning looks like.”

Earlier today, the House voted to disapprove of Obama’s request for an additional $1.2 trillion increase in the debt ceiling.  Needless to say, they failed to garner the requisite two-thirds majority to preclude Obama from issuing more debt.  The total federal debt will inexorably rise to at least $16.4 trillion by the end of the year.

But wait.  Didn’t we pass a Budget Control Act to usher in a new era of budget austerity?

On August 1, the total federal debt stood at $14,342,358,440,969.10.  Today, it stands at $15,236,288,061,558.65.  That’s an increase of $894 billion.  What’s the significance of August 1?  That is the day Congress passed the Budget Out-of-Control Act.  It took us from the country’s founding until 1982 to accrue $894 billion in debt, yet we have accomplished that in a half year.

Thus, on average, we have incurred an additional $5.26 billion in debt since passage of the debt deal.  That’s $219 million per hour.

As Senator DeMint noted today, “This isn’t what winning looks like.”

The damage was done last year when Congress voted to spend even more money that we didn’t have.  The result is that the US debt is now greater than the US Gross Domestic Product.

A Little History

 In August of 2011 Congress authorized a debt ceiling increase of between $2.1 and $2.4 trillion.  The increase was to happen in up to three steps, and as the ink was drying on the President’s signature the administration raised the total debt limit from $14.3 trillion to $15.2 trillion (an increase of around $900 billion) to match ‘cuts’ that were in the bill.  The cuts were mostly meaningless, and were spread out over 10 years (while the debt increase was instant) but it gave cover to those who wanted to vote for it.  The story was that any increase in debt would be matched with offsetting spending cuts

A Super-Committee was formed to come up with another $1.5 trillion in cuts by December 23.  If they failed this would trigger ‘automatic’ cuts of $1.2 trillion beginning in 2013.  The final spending reduction was to be added to the $900 billion increase from August.  To nobody’s surprise the committee was not successful, which means that the total increase is supposed to be limited to $2.1 trillion.

Where we are Today

The Federal Government announced on December 30th that they had had used up all but $100B of the debt ceiling increase.  That is $800 billion dollars in just 150 days, which means that the government is borrowing $5.34 billion dollars every day, not the $4 billion that is widely reported.

So the President now wants to increase the total US debt from $15.2 trillion to $16.4 trillion, or 112% of GDP.  Congress reserves the right to disapprove of this increase, but the President can veto such an action.  The “Resolution of Disapproval” is not as forceful as an actual law and would be something as simple as stating that Congress disapproves of the President’s exercise of authority to increase the debt limit.  Difficult to say since they voted for it in the first place.

The Republicans, especially in the House where they are all up for election, will probably decide to make a big show and vote against the increase, forcing Obama to nullify the vote with a veto.  This is the best political strategy because it gives them cover in November (or in a primary) and allows them to make Obama out to be the bad guy.  And since they won’t have the votes to override the veto everyone will get the extra money anyway.

You would think that Representatives who voted for the increase in 2011 will have a difficult time voting against it this time.  The excuse they might try is that they were made promises that were not kept, which isn’t true.  They were promised a vote on a balanced budget amendment and that a Super Committee would be put together to find cuts to offset the debt limit increases.  Both of these happened.  A balanced budget amendment was brought to the floor in November of 2011.  It was a bad amendment (see why HERE) but with the exception of a few true conservatives many in Congress voted for it anyway.  The Super Committee did not choose their own cuts but, in theory, the offsetting cuts will be made for them.

(Aside – The definition of Irony – Get a promise to vote on a balanced budget amendment by voting for a bill that puts the budget more out of balance.)

The only other excuse I see for those who were in favor of it in 2011 but now want to come out against it is that they didn’t really know what was going on the first time.  But the “I voted for it before I vote against it” doesn’t play well to conservatives, and no congressman wants to admit that they might have made a mistake.

There is one other option.  They could do nothing and just hope it passes by without notice.  But they should know by now that we are watching.

2012 is right around the corner and that means every time we turn the TV on or check our email, we will be slammed with one X-rated Obama ad after another. Will we fall victim to his class warfare or will we choose a person who will restore our Country? We need a man who will create jobs, balance our budget, attend to Iranian crisis, secure our borders and restore our economy.

It’s our choice, we can complacently sit on our haunches and do nothing or we can fight for our rights and freedoms. In 2008, many fell in love with a polished orator who brought nothing to our table but idle promises of “hope and change.” Well we know where the hope went and now we know what change feels like. Now he wants another 1.2 trillion dollars – we need to take our charge card back ASAP.

In three years our National Debt has increased 4 trillion dollars, 787 billion dollars squandered, lost our Triple A credit rating, debt ceiling raised, illegal alien deportation stopped, almost 20% of our population on food stamps and our daily debt increases about 4 billion per day. We’re now the “laughing stock” of the World – foreign Countries just sneer at us and make fun of our wimpy Government.

Our borders are not secured and illegal aliens and terrorists just keep infiltrating our Nation. In 2009, a scheme to obliterate our 2nd Amendment happened right in front of our eyes; one of the most diabolical evil scandals in our Nation’s history occurred on our turf (the Fast and Furious gunrunner operation.)

During the past three years the EPA has run amuck like a mad professor, slapping more ridiculous regulations on businesses (big and small) and no one has stopped them. Businesses have been isolated from the real world by a small group of fanatics who laugh all the way to the bank while we stand in an unemployment line and beg for food stamps.

Don’t forget the morning we woke up to find out our Military had been sent to Libya and we were in a third war that at the end of the day is carrying a price tag that exceeds 900 million dollars. We just went in hock to open the doors for Obama’s kin the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Government grants that fly out the backdoor of the White House seem to be on overdrive – there are grants to examine testicles, observe a shrimp on a treadmill, to take care of Pelosi’s stupid tit mouse. The point is this – billions of taxpayer’s money is being misused and we don’t even know who is getting the money, how much they get or the purpose of the grant.

Then there is the “Green Monster,” that is still costing taxpayers millions and millions, green companies are dying off like flies and our money has been gobbled up and is long gone.

The little things are worth mentioning, because accumulatively they equate into billions of dollars of our hard earned money. Starting with the many Obama Czars who come from the wrong side of the track; they aren’t worth their salt and their salaries are exorbitant.

Check out Lady Obama’s hand maidens who according to Politifact total at least 25, but the point is we’re in a recession and maybe the first lady should roll up her sleeves, put on some grubby old levis and find out how the real world lives.

Our Air Force One has been packing and toting the socialite who’s been out campaigning for over a year – our tab for this bit of fun looks like a mini National war debt. The millions spent in Hawaii for a little R&R and for flying Pluto back and forth definitely shows you no one is looking out for Americans.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to give our children and grandchildren a legacy they can wrap their arms around with pride. At the rate we’re going, our kids and grandchildren will be working until they’re 80 or 90 years old without a pot to pee in – they deserve the best let’s take back our Country in 2012 and put a man in office who knows how to balance the budget, deal with Iran, secure our borders, stop EPA in its tracks, restore our economy and downsize the Government.

May God Bless America
As Always,
Little Tboca