4614

Pelosi made conflicting promises. SHe also promised the progressives the two would be linked, and she promised all Dems not to put up a vote that she knows won’t pass, and she knew the Progressive Caucus was going to say no to getting nothing.

4615

If Sinma is upset she can vote for the reconciliation bill along with the other 48 Democratic Senators. Easy-peasy. Solves her problem right there.

4616

Pelosi can only control one of those things though.

She can’t control what the Senate passes.

And… Again… Getting the infrastructure bill is not nothing. I don’t know why you keep pretending like a giant bill containing stuff they want is “nothing”.

4617

I have no issues with the Progressives pushing the Democrats to actually do stuff Democrats like, even if it involves hardball.

4618

I laughed so hard at this I nearly lost teeth.

4619

Careful now, the greatest country on earth is too poor to provide denta–oh, wait, you live somewhere that doesn’t suck fucks; carry on.

4620

Joe is an oldy, but he’s a goody.

4621

I wish more of the current Dem party was like Biden.

4622

Here’s the full video of today’s remarks. A lot of good stuff here.

4623

So, what is our favorite path to avoiding the debt ceiling default?

Janet Yellen mints the trillion dollar coin?

Jerome Powell carries a stack of treasury notes into the courtyard of the Federal Reserve Bank and lights them on fire, declaring the debts forgiven?

Biden unilaterally declares the debt ceiling unconstitutional (it’s right there in the constitution that you can’t question the full faith and credit of the US) and just goes right on borrowing and spending?

4624

That would definitely be the most interesting, since it would force Republicans to sue the administration into defaulting on America’s debt.

4625

When Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling, they’re basically forcing the President to choose which law to ignore: the ones that tell him he has to pay people and for things, or the one that says he can’t borrow money to do it. I don’t know why the President should have to honor the latter at the expense of the former. If he has to choose, choose to ignore the debt ceiling law and honor all the other laws that require him to do things that cost money. And let someone try to stop him in the courts.

4626

Susan Collins delivers the ransom note:

This is transparently their game. Either this, or the Dems are forced to pass a reconciliation bill in the next two weeks, which means they have to bring the rest of the reconciliation bill to a close and take much less than they might otherwise be able to squeeze out of Manchin and Sinema.

4627

What’s sad is the take away from the Right will be, “He’s reading from a teleprompter!!!” Because he’s just puppet controlled by Michelle Obama, Kamala and Hillary.

4628

And the TAN SUIT!

4629

So, can we abandon it, raise the debt limit, and then un-abandon it?

4630

This is absolutely what Biden should do. There is no mention of a debt ceiling in the Constitution. The Administration is not spending money that Congress has not explicitly appropriated on personnel and programs and departments. If that spending exceeds tax revenue, debt instruments must be issued. The Constitution says that US debt shall not be questioned, so too bad so sad, end this stupid game of political football, once and for all.

4631

Serious question: can POTUS declare anything unconstitutional? That doesn’t sound right.

4632

It’s an obvious idea that has few, if any downsides. If a judge rules that you have to live by the debt ceiling then nobody has lost anything.

So why hasn’t anyone done it yet? I posit because both sides want to reserve the right to use the debt ceiling as a cudgel in the future.

Which is why I say this is all theater. Nobody must think there is any real chance that the US will default, or that if we do it will be as catastrophic as is being reported. Because if they did, both Pelosi and Schumer would just walk into Biden’s office and say: ignore it. Just keep paying the US’s debts and dare Republicans to sue you, then step outside and hold a press conference telling the world that’s what they plan to do.

4633

Biden kidnaps the conservative Justices and puts them on an aircraft carrier that will sail around the Pacific Ocean. While White House lawyers stonewall by saying that laws against kidnapping don’t apply to the President (maybe they can get Dershowitz to help with that!), the liberal justices declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional.