Thanks, Joe, for doing that grownup thing you do…
Not to mention, of course, the little ol’ national economy.
Those who voted against the deal Joe and Speaker McCarthy came up with to avoid the completely unnecessary spectacle of the United States defaulting on its debt were:
- Russell Fry
- Nancy Mace
- Ralph Norman
- William Timmons
None, of course, were Democrats. There were some Dems who voted against the measure scattered across the country, but since all we have is Jim Clyburn — and Clyburn is a responsible grownup, the man who saved the country in February 2020 — we were spared that humiliation here at home.
Having identified all of the malefactors as Republicans, allow me to note that my own congressman, Joe Wilson, did the grownup thing and voted with Clyburn. So did Jeff Duncan.
If any of those who voted against come up with creditable explanations for their inexcusable, I’ll come back and mention it. But don’t hold your breath, because I find it hard to imagine that happening.
Of course, I offer my greatest congratulations and thanks to my man Joe — he won’t get the credit he deserves, as Jennifer Rubin has pointed out — but he certainly deserves it. And you’ll notice he’s not doing any dances in the end zone himself — because that’s not the way he rolls. (As Matt Bai writes, “in decades of writing about budget standoffs and ideological clashes, I can’t recall another moment when a president achieved total victory and then tried to pass it off as a painful compromise.” But that’s what Joe has done, because he’s Joe. And because this is the smart way to get substantive things done.)
And McCarthy deserves a pat on the back for holding his barbarians off long enough to get the thing passed. Joe, while winning, helped with that — giving him the opportunity to claim to the yahoos that he had “made” Joe make concessions.
Now, it’s up to Sen. Schumer to do his job. And he may get it done tonight. That would be best…
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I got my credit card company to increase my limit to 11 billion dollars. Didn’t matter that I can’t pay it back. Please congratulate me
Meanwhile, Joe feel down again today and didn’t look capable of standing up without help.
Yeah, that happens sometimes with humans. Maybe we shouldn’t have taken up that walking-on-two-legs thing…
And then whacked his head getting off marine one today… You think this is going to get better five years from now?
He won’t hold up to the rigors of a campaign next year.
Yes, he will. I mean, you know, unless something we have not yet seen arises.
Things happen. After all, I had a stroke three years again, when I was a mere pup of 66..
There’s nothing to celebrate here. This situation should never have arisen. The debt ceiling should be abolished.
It could have been (much) worse is about the best that can be said. But while the deal arrived at had to pass, it is based on a thoroughly rotten principle: namely, that 15% of the budget should bear all the weight of deficit reduction. These cuts (and, yes, these will be cuts, since the caps do not adjust for inflation – which is kinda high) are directed at education, the environment, research and development, public health and safety, infrastructure, social welfare programs, and much else besides. What’s more, the deal adds not one cent on the revenue side. The caps do not apply to defense (which actually gets a raise). It imposes work requirements that do not generate additional employment and are instead aimed at throwing people off aid rolls. And it undermines environmental protections. In short, this deal surrenders the national fate to a wholly Republican agenda. And by capping spending, it potentially allows them to have their way without making actual choices, since the caps will operate much like the 2011 sequester mechanism if Republicans fail to pick and choose which programs to cut. Lastly, but in no way least, it serves as a precedent to hold the country hostage yet again in 2025 and for who knows how many seasons tereafter.
By targeting the least-well-off in our society as somehow the source of our fiscal problems, this deal is a thoroughly imbalanced and irresponsible way of balancing the budget.
“There’s nothing to celebrate here. This situation should never have arisen.”
Yup, as I’ve said. But it did, because our nation has become so politically dysfunctional. Fortunately, Joe managed to work with the speaker to keep us from hitting that rock and sinking the ship. So that’s a good thing.
But these reps — and both our senators, as it later turned out — voted to hit the rock. And that’s a bad thing…
Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham were left off the roll call of deplorables. Funny how supposedly “pragmatic” and “responsible” Rs, like Scott and Mace, voted Nay. More evidence that there’s little genuine difference between the bomb throwers and the allegedly sensible elements in that party.