Debt Ceiling
The House passed a Budget deal on October 28, 2015 that, among other things, will extends the government’s borrowing authority through mid-March 2017. In 2013, the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate negotiated with the White House on three fiscal matters with looming deadlines: raising the debt ceiling now approaching the limit $16.5T, massive federal spending cuts known as sequester and a budget resolution. On February 4th, the President signed a bill into law extending the debt limit debate until 5/18/13. This date may also get extended as far as August due to financial manipulations similar to those used in 2011. The "No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013" also mandates that pay for lawmakers be held in escrow starting April 16 until their chamber has passed a 2014 budget resolution. Congress must pass a spending bill, called a continuing resolution or “CR,” which would continue spending after Sept. 30, 2013, the end of the 2013 fiscal year. As it stands now, the government’s legal authority to borrow more money runs out in mid-October, 2013. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, if that date arrived on October 18, the Treasury “would be about $106 billion short of paying all bills owed between October 18 and November 15. The congressionally mandated limit on federal borrowing is currently set at $16.7 trillion. The debt limit has been raised 13 times since 2001 and has grown from about 55 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2001 to 102 percent of GDP last year. The hoped for legislation will raise the debt ceiling through Dec. 31, 2014.
Archive Related Items

Democrats call Fitch Downgrade of U.S. Credit Rating, 'Trump downgrade'

8/3/23
from The Gray Area:
8/3/23:
Fitch Ratings on Tuesday downgraded America’s long-term foreign-currency-issuer default rating, citing ongoing and projected future fiscal instability. Democrats, in an obvious political move, jumped to defend Bidenomics...and, astonishingly, to blame Donald Trump. The 'Trump downgrade' is a direct result of an extreme MAGA Republican agenda defined by "chaos, callousness, and recklessness that Americans continue to reject,” Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in a statement. “Donald Trump oversaw the loss of millions of American jobs, and ballooned the deficit with the disastrous tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations.” They are trying to blame Trump for the COVID pandemic impact on the country, which was exaggerated by Democrat Governors. Job growth is counted as letting previously employed workers come back to their jobs after COVID, which the Biden agenda retarded and delayed with their extended COVID stimulus and regulations. Thee bad policies were followed by supply chain issues, inflation, rising interest rates, and a stock market collapse. No wonder they are indefensibly trying to target the former president. What Fitch actually said is this:
  • The tumultuous negotiations between Republicans and Democrats in June over raising the debt ceiling.
  • the government lacks a medium-term fiscal framework, unlike most peers, and has a complex budgeting process.
  • These several economic shocks as well as tax cuts and new spending initiatives, have contributed to successive debt increases over the last decade.”
  • the U.S. less reliable to honor its obligations because:
    • the Federal Reserve tightening monetary conditions via interest-rate increases to combat inflation.
    • The central bank also continues to shed its massive balance sheet of mortgage-backed securities and U.S. Treasuries,
    • The economy, the agency noted, is expected to slip into a “mild recession” in the fourth quarter of 2023.
  • Mandatory spending on Medicare and Social Security will intensify the pressure on the federal fiscal state as well, according to the CBO, Fitch cited.
  • “The CBO projects that the Social Security fund will be depleted by 2033 and the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund (used to pay for benefits under Medicare Part A) will be depleted by 2035 under current laws.
Trump was responsible for none of these issues except the tax cuts. And, when you look at deficits 'caused by the tax cuts', you see that these tax changes generated record revenues. The deficits come from out of control spending. Both Presidents are responsible for increasing US debt, but it was Bidenomics that exploded the deficit , the debt and sent the economy into a tailspin with his agenda of unnecessary and extreme spending programs. This is what the Democrats are trying to hide with such ridiculous and false allegations against Trump. Fitch is correct about the looming default of Social Security and Medicare, which neither party is willing to tackle. More From National Review:


365 Days Page
Archive Related Items
Comment ( 0 )