Nothing changes. The debt ceiling will be raised, the Republican Party will come out as the villain, Obama will continue to enslave our children and people sit back to watch football. A line in the sand? A line in stone? More words without action.
Fine. I have long since come to the realization that my life’s savings will be redistributed or hyperinflated to zero. Who will get the last laugh? It does not matter: the chains of tyranny will only bring tears to the weak and resolve to the strong.
David DeGerolamo
House Republicans seek vote to extend debt limit to May 19
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have scheduled a vote on Wednesday on a nearly four-month extension of U.S. borrowing capacity, but the bill does not specify a dollar amount.
Legislative language released by the House Rules Committee on Monday said the bill aims “to ensure complete and timely payment of the obligations of the United States Government until May 19, 2013.”
The legislation is a strategic move by House Republicans to avoid a fight over the looming federal debt ceiling and shift their negotiating leverage for spending cuts to other fiscal deadlines. The U.S. Treasury expects to exhaust all remaining power to borrow money under the $16.4 trillion debt limit sometime between mid-February or early March.
The strategy shift, agreed last week by House Republicans at a retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia, aims to draw the Democratic-controlled Senate into taking action to cut deficits by requiring the Senate to pass a budget resolution by April 15. The Senate has not passed a budget in nearly four years.
Under the legislation, if either the Senate or House fail to meet the April 15 budget deadline, lawmakers’ salaries would be held in escrow until their chamber passes a budget.
