Sometimes I fail to see the difference between Republicans and Democrats, yet today the difference is quite profound. When the GOP acts as a minority party they can really make a loud statement and the statement today is this: Republicans are the only party of fiscal sanity. Fundamentally this is not true as they spend and expand government as well as the Democrats, but today it is quite obvious and it should enrage all sensible liberal Americans out there.
A solution to a debt problem is NEVER to take on more debt. It is mathematically absurd.
WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted narrowly to increase the government's borrowing authority to $14.3 trillion, which would allow the Treasury Department to continue servicing the country's spiraling national debt through most of 2010. The 60 to 40 vote, along party lines, allows the Democratic-led chamber to avoid approving another unpopular increase before the November congressional elections. The House of Representatives must also approve the hike before President Barack Obama can sign it into law. Congress must periodically raise the legal limit for the government's borrowing, and the Treasury Department is expected within weeks to exceed the current $12.4 trillion limit set in December. Failure to raise the limit would roil financial markets, but lawmakers are never eager to sign off on a measure that allows the government to dig itself further into debt. Democrats who control both chambers of Congress face a growing public backlash over the aggressive spending measures they have taken to stimulate economic growth during the worst recession in 70 years. The government spent a record $1.4 trillion more than it collected in the past fiscal year, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecasts a similar $1.35 trillion deficit for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.Right now the Senate is discussing and planning to vote on the confirmation of Ben Bernanke. Watch the debate on CSPAN-2.
