BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from mullings.com
Last week it was all “Boehner Embarrassed,” “Boehner Loses Control,” “Boehner Speakership in Peril,” and so on.
That was last week. So … what was. Yesterday was a new week, a new vote, a new deal and the House adopted the bill to raise the debt limit and cut just shy of a trillion dollars in spending by a vote of 269-161.
174 Republicans voted for the bill; 66 voted against. Democrats split 95-95. Three Democrats didn’t vote.
Reprinted from Washington Times and Townhall.com
The debt deal, if it sticks, is a triumph for the bipartisan, status quo-clinging Washington establishment. Here is a prediction: Between now and January 2013, total actual spending cuts will be minimal. That will result from the following: (1) The $900 billion deficit reduction is almost all back-loaded to the years beyond 2012. (2) The select committee created by the budget deal will fail to pass a “second tranche” deficit-cut package of an additional $1.5 trillion. (3) The “trigger” will be pulled that will identify an additional $1.2 trillion. (4) The pulled trigger won’t require any more deficit reductions to go into effect until 2013, when a new Congress and either a new president or a re-elected President Obama will be able to re-decide (or repeal) all these decisions.
BY FRANK HILL
Reprinted from Telemachus.com
Editor’s Note: This was written prior to the new agreement.
Some people think it is Senator Harry Reid. Some think it is President Obama. Others think it is Speaker John Boehner. The Tea Party is getting its share of the blame as well.
We happen to think Speaker Boehner is emerging as a statesmanlike leader during this whole thing. He had been parodied as man who shed a tear much too quickly but he is looking more and more like the adult in the room as this thing drags on.
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