Today the House passed a bill extending the limits on the debt ceiling until May 18th. This takes the issue of a default by the USA in its obligations off the table for the time being. The bill also requires each house to pass a budget resolution by April 18th as required by law or see the pay of its members held until a budget gets passed. It is not a very complicated move by the House Republicans. With this bill, they make clear that the House has no intention of threatening a default in order to get its way. They also make clear that the Senate can no longer avoid its responsibility to pass a budget. That's it, no more.
So how does the main stream media portray this event? Here is a quote from the ABC News story explaining what the GOP did with this bill:
In recent years conservatives have opposed any increase to the debt limit without corresponding spending cuts, but Republicans hope to gain leverage with a three-month increase by syncing up the next slate of major fiscal deadlines facing Congress to provide lawmakers with more time to work out a so-called 'Big Deal' on deficit reduction.
Reading this description, I have to wonder if the reporter (John Parkinson) and his editors have any understanding at all of what was happening. Let me explain why I say that.
First of all, there were three "fiscal deadlines" coming up in the near future. The debt ceiling limit would be reached by mid February or early March. The spending cuts required by sequestration go into effect in early March also unless something is done to prevent that. Third, the continuing resolution which is currently funding the government has to be dealt with in March as well or there will be a government shutdown. Moving the debt ceiling deadline to mid May does not "sync" it up with the other deadlines as ABC reports. No, moving the debt ceiling deadline to May separates that deadline from the other two.
Second, the point of what the GOP has done is to avoid another "Big Deal" on deficit reduction. Speaker Boehner announced previously that he would no longer get involved with negotiations for such a "Big Deal" but would have the House proceed in what is called "regular order". That means that the House will pass a budget and then pass individual appropriation bills to cover spending. If there are to be tax changes, these too will be the result of committee hearings, bill markups and public votes. The days of the secret negotiations and the "Big Deals" are over.
So ABC was wrong when it said that the GOP was trying to sync up the deadlines and it was wrong when it said that the goal of the GOP was to get more time for negotiating another "Big Deal". Since that is all that ABC News was reporting, that means that ABC got its report totally wrong.
But then again, what can you expect from people who report their points of view rather than the facts?
So how does the main stream media portray this event? Here is a quote from the ABC News story explaining what the GOP did with this bill:
In recent years conservatives have opposed any increase to the debt limit without corresponding spending cuts, but Republicans hope to gain leverage with a three-month increase by syncing up the next slate of major fiscal deadlines facing Congress to provide lawmakers with more time to work out a so-called 'Big Deal' on deficit reduction.
Reading this description, I have to wonder if the reporter (John Parkinson) and his editors have any understanding at all of what was happening. Let me explain why I say that.
First of all, there were three "fiscal deadlines" coming up in the near future. The debt ceiling limit would be reached by mid February or early March. The spending cuts required by sequestration go into effect in early March also unless something is done to prevent that. Third, the continuing resolution which is currently funding the government has to be dealt with in March as well or there will be a government shutdown. Moving the debt ceiling deadline to mid May does not "sync" it up with the other deadlines as ABC reports. No, moving the debt ceiling deadline to May separates that deadline from the other two.
Second, the point of what the GOP has done is to avoid another "Big Deal" on deficit reduction. Speaker Boehner announced previously that he would no longer get involved with negotiations for such a "Big Deal" but would have the House proceed in what is called "regular order". That means that the House will pass a budget and then pass individual appropriation bills to cover spending. If there are to be tax changes, these too will be the result of committee hearings, bill markups and public votes. The days of the secret negotiations and the "Big Deals" are over.
So ABC was wrong when it said that the GOP was trying to sync up the deadlines and it was wrong when it said that the goal of the GOP was to get more time for negotiating another "Big Deal". Since that is all that ABC News was reporting, that means that ABC got its report totally wrong.
But then again, what can you expect from people who report their points of view rather than the facts?
No comments:
Post a Comment