Saturday night Kabuki bickerfest; Update: Sunday Senate Vote Pushed Back to 1pm; Backroom deal details emerge
The Senate Punch and Judy show…all for show
It’s around 6:15pm Eastern.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just summoned all Senators and took to the floor to lament a GOP filibuster of his bill. Earlier today, the House rejected his plan. He repeated “filibuster” 100 times and even spelled it out — f-i-l-i-b-u-s-t-er.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell asked why Reid wouldn’t allow a cloture vote on the Reid proposal at 6:30pm Eastern.
Reid let out a thin laugh and meekly said: “I object.”
Laughter, much deserved, broke out on the Senate floor.
McConnell noted that he interrupted a meeting with VP Joe Biden to answer Reid’s summons.
Buzz on the rest of Capitol Hill says everyone else but Reid (busy pouting about everyone else’s press conferences) is close to a deal.
Ed Morrissey’s prediction:
My prediction is that we will see a deal structured in two installments of the debt-ceiling hike using the McConnell mechanism, which combined will hit the amount Reid wanted, and with the cuts and assumptions built into the Boehner proposal (with possibly a few changes, which should be checked), with a commitment for a balanced-budget amendment vote in the Senate included. A package like that could get a grudging majority in both chambers, and if it did, Obama would have little choice but to sign it. I suspect we’ll see an announcement before midnight tonight on something along those lines — or on a short-term debt-ceiling hike of no more than $100 billion to give them a little more time to get there.
Remember: Fast-forward past the sound and fury…The debt ceiling is going up. Government is getting bigger. Real spending cuts are getting kicked down the can. Entitlement reform is going nowhere. Reid and McConnell will dilute Boehner’s already diluted plan behind closed doors. And everyone in Washington will rush to take credit for nothing much.
***
Questions…
*Hey, anyone seen POTUS or TOTUS?
*Erik Telford asks: “[The] House rejects Reid plan, while he filibusters his own plan in the Senate, and Republicans are accused of stalling? #wtf”
Update (DP): Reid has delayed the Senate vote. It was scheduled for 1 a.m. — will now supposedly take place 12 hours later.
Update (MM): Here are the backroom deal details via ABC News….
ABC News has learned that Republicans and the White House have struck a tentative deal to raise the debt ceiling before the Aug. 2 deadline. It’s not done yet, but here is the framework of the tentative deal they have worked out, according to a source familiar with the negotiations:
* Debt ceiling increase of up to $2.8 trillion
* Spending cuts of roughly $1 trillion
* Special committee to recommend cuts of $1.8 trillion (or whatever it takes to add up to the total of the debt ceiling increase)
* Committee must make recommendations before Thanksgiving recess
* If Congress does not approve those cuts by late December, automatic across-the-board cuts go into effect, including cuts to Defense and Medicare.
No mention of the balanced budget amendment bone that Boehner tossed into Boehner 3.0.
Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee, a Tea Party stalwart who swept old RINO Bob Bennett out of power, blows the whistle:
“As we delay voting in the Senate we continue to see power consolidated into the hands of just a few legislative leaders. This is troubling.”
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
GOP Texas primary fight: Desperate Dewhurst slimes conservative challenger Ted Cruz
May 25, 2012 07:31 PM by Michelle Malkin
7 CommentsWho’s funding Brett Kimberlin?
May 25, 2012 01:52 PM by Michelle Malkin
25 CommentsObama’s Land of the LOST
May 25, 2012 01:42 PM by Michelle Malkin
51 CommentsObama’s latest campaign angle: I’ve been saving America from wild Republican debts
May 24, 2012 04:33 PM by Doug Powers
53 Comments
Senate finally passes a budget approves bill striking word ‘lunatic’ from federal law
May 24, 2012 11:22 AM by Doug Powers
193 CommentsStammertime: Jay Carney asked if Chicago protests have soured Obama’s support for OWS
May 23, 2012 07:44 PM by Doug Powers
54 Comments
S.E. Cupp, Hustler, and the four stages of conservative female abuse
May 23, 2012 02:13 PM by Michelle Malkin
142 CommentsPig Maher’s boy Bill Burton mocks my support of Hatch challenger Dan Liljenquist
May 23, 2012 11:37 AM by Michelle Malkin
32 CommentsFree speech blogburst: Show solidarity for targeted conservative bloggers; Update: It’s Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day; Donation fund for targets
May 23, 2012 05:59 AM by Michelle Malkin
114 Comments
Categories: Politics
JustOneMinute
» Patterico And The Brett Kimberlin GangBabalu Blog
» U.S. Manned Space Flight in The 21st CenturyVillainous Company
» Must Read Post of the Day. Possibly, the Year
If I wished to play a movie clip to inspire the Tea Partiers in Congress, I would show this clip. The original scene from “1776” was edited out, but it shouldn’t have been. Listen to Adams’ words from 00:20 to 00:35 as Jefferson fixes on the little girl’s face.
The real challenage after all this hoopla is over will be to somehow make enough voters remember in 2012 that an Appallingly Incompetent Fraud now occupies the White House.
And how the nation’s viability depends on replacing him.
It hardly matters anymore “with whom” (important though that of course still is).
I think congress needs to explain why they can’t cut the budget by 40%. Congress is allowing the lenders to suck the life out of us. They are selling us out to the highest bidder. Why isn’t that treason?
I gave up watching the political shows today and went to the Apple store. Bought the teen daughter a Macbook Air. Since Apple has more $ than the U.S. Government, I thought if Obama defaults, we have something to trade.
Oh goodie deal announced not a 10 trillion debt just a 7 one…. how’s that playin for ya Rinos? Middleton, Middleton?
Why are “conservatives” so afraid to use the power they have, whether little or great? Why do “conservatives” consistently throw up their hands after making passionate, principle-based speeches and say, “Woe is us! We don’t have the numbers… We’d lose… We don’t have the influence… They might call us names… We don’t have… We can’t… We won’t… We should choose this evil over that one. It’s our only chance.” “Conservatives” need to realize the power that exists in perhaps the most beautiful word in the English language: no.
The only reason that this country would default or not pay its service members is if the executive branch chose to not pay the interest on the debt or write service members’ paychecks. Considering that we bring in $2.6 trillion as a nation, paying $0.4 trillion for the interest on the debt and a fraction of the $0.8 trillion required for all of DoD shouldn’t be a problem. But hey, “conservatives” apparently don’t care about that or else more than two Congressmen would have brought it up. At this point, I’m just going to shut-up and go about continuing to fight this cold war we have going on in Iraq against an enemy that’s fighting a proxy war against us.
That $7 trillion, after applying the math used to discount the $100B but compromise down to $62B to $31B to the real number $250 MILLION, works out to somewhere near $80 trillion dollar debt in ten years.
There’s some kind of Congress-to-real-world exchange rate that is never disclosed. You have to be a member of the ruling junta to understand that kind of economics.
Errah What, No 4T??!! Can you say “AA”??!! Just like the Eveready Energizer Bunny; Congress Is Going and Going and Going, to keep spending.
I’m sure you caught this