EVENT
Jun 23, 2011– With only weeks to go before the country hits the debt ceiling, Republican negotiators walked out, throwing doubt on Washington’s ability to reach a deal that would allow the government to keep borrowing and avoid a debt default.
Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, said participants had identified trillions of dollars in potential spending cuts but were deadlocked over tax increases sought by Democrats. Republican Senator Jon Kyl also pulled out, according to an aide.
“Regardless of the progress that has been made, the tax issue must be resolved before discussions can continue,” Cantor said in a statement. House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Washington, said Democrats must take tax hikes off the table. “These conversations could continue if they take the tax hikes out of the conversation,” Boehner said.
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Let me get this straight, default could occur if Congress does not act by August 2, pushing the United States back into recession and sending markets plunging around the globe. Republicans refuse to negotiate any deal to raise the debt limit if the Democrats want to rollback the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and/or cut subsidies to the oil companies to help cut the deficit. I don’t doubt for one minute that the Republican leaders are fighting hard out for the well being of the people they represent? The only problem I have is that I’m not one of the top richest 2% that they represent at the expense of the rest of us. I wish the Democrats would fight as hard for the other 98%. They don’t. What the Republican leaders lack as human beings they more than make up for as negotiators. I know. I’ve looked up the word in the dictionary. Negotiate: To try to reach an agreement or compromise by discussion with others. Now if only Cantor would look up the word compromise. Maybe it’s too close to the word communism.
The reason they refuse to negotiate is because they won’t compromise on the Bush tax cuts. It’s not the first Time. Remember just a couple of months ago when they did the same thing with last years budget? They were willing to shut down the whole government unless all our favorite millionaires got to keep their Bush Bucks. They were in such a tuff about it that they refused to vote to give our heroic 9/11 first responders medical coverage until the Bush’s Breaks for Billionaires were firmly in place. You see, the Blue Team insist that the super rich need the Bush tax cuts to create jobs and reduce the deficit. Of course, I’m just an artist, not an economist but it seems to me that since they’ve enjoyed those tax cuts these last ten years our job growth became smaller and our deficit larger.
As far these debt talks are concerned, The Red Team and the Blue Team are basically playing a game of chicken. Once again, the Blue Team is threatening to throw the whole economy under the bus for the benefit of the rich and those who sell the gas for the bus.