debt ceiling hostage

1 23

sorta disambig

merri ok

gaetz --> mofo node

see 2 santas

voodoo tax cuts

see attack on social safety net snap

paul ryan Boehner "terrorists"

hypocrisy

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fight = obstruction / shutdown? l g says best deal possible on border, even under trump

an 1 24 no lnx

as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) approaches his 100th day in the role, Republican House members are criticizing the conservative Louisiana lawmaker for failing to secure any "policy wins," The Messenger reports.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who played a major role in ousting Johnson's predecessor — Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — from the speakership in September, has also been a staunch critic of Johnson's.

"He hasn't really picked his big fight yet. His definitional spear in the ground has not been thrown," the Florida congressman told the news outlet. "If we don't fight for something before the election, we're incredibly likely to lose it."

However, per the report, "The Messenger talked to nearly two dozen House Republicans — a tenth of the 219-member conference — about Johnson’s performance to date ahead of his 3-month anniversary as speaker on Thursday. While the reviews are 'mixed,' as one member put it, Johnson still has support from the overwhelming majority of Republicans."

Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) argues "Johnson's measure of success is 'mitigating' the mess of unfinished legislative business he inherited after taking over for McCarthy."

He added, "I've not seen many people turn rotten tomatoes into lemonade. I'm not saying it's sweet lemonade; it's still a little bitter, but it's not rotten tomatoes. I give him credit for that."

Referring to Johnson, Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL) said, "The poor guy is drinking from a fire hydrant, but he's kept his cool and he hasn't changed. He's still just as level headed as he was going in, so I think he's done a really good job."

READ MORE: 'Worse than we thought': House GOP 'threatening the career' of Mike Johnson over budget deal

Rutherford emphasized, "What I consider a victory and what some of these knuckleheads that want to shut down the government, what they want, are two different things."

The Messenger's full report is here.

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Right-wing media call for GOP to reject budget deal amid government shutdown threat | Media Matters for America

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Sean Hannity instructs Republicans to shut down the government if they can't get spending cuts | Media Matters for America

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oct 2023an

fox Business host Stuart Varney confronted Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) after the congressman suggested he would vote to shut down the federal government.

"Well, reading between the lines, it sounds like you are a holdout again, and that you are quite prepared to shut the government down," Varney told Roy during a Monday interview. "You are, aren't you? Yes, you are."

"Well, let me just say, Stuart, the question here is, do you believe that we should continue to fund a United Nations that literally just stood with Hamas?" Roy asked. "Should we continue to fund a wide open border that is endangering my constituents, where people are dying from fentanyl?"

"No, I'm not going to blindly saddle up and say, sure, let me write another blank check for all of America to wonder what their leaders in Washington are doing," he continued.

Varney pushed back.

"But I do remember, was it three, four weeks ago?" the Fox Business host said. "House Republicans rejected a deal that Speaker McCarthy had worked out because they said it wasn't good enough, and we had three weeks where we didn't have a speaker, and the Republican Party was embarrassed up and down the wazoo throughout the entire country."

"Well, remember, Stuart, that I was a part of putting forward a proposal that would have reduced spending, secured our border, and kept the government going," Roy replied.

"Yeah, and you didn't have the votes for it," Varney shot back. "So what's the point? Now we have a speaker. What is the point? If you know you don't have the votes, so you shut down the government, we're embarrassed all over again."

Roy seemed irritated by the line of questioning.

"All right, Stuart, what do you want to do?" he wondered. "Sign up for the endless spending plan for our Democratic colleagues that's destroying our country."

"If that's what you want, then just bring Democrats on your show to continue to vomit out all of the ridiculous spending programs and my Republican colleagues who absolutely refuse to do their job and do what they said they would do," he added.

Watch the video from Fox Business below or at this link.

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no lnx

House Freedom Caucus threatens 'reckless' government shutdown unless far-right demands are met

Jim Jordan's 'political stunt dressed up as an investigation' is 'loaded with blanks': legal experts

Jessica CorbettandCommon Dreams August 22, 2023

With Congress on August recess, the far-right House Freedom Caucus on Monday issued expected but unlikely-to-be-met demands for a stopgap funding bill that wouldavert an October government shutdown.

Members of the Senate and House of Representatives are set to return to Capitol Hill on the first and second Tuesday of September, respectively—giving them little time to pass full-year appropriations legislation before funding runs out at the end of next month.

Considering the time crunch, both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have recently signaled support for a continuing resolution (CR) that would give lawmakers a few more months to pass a larger package.

So far, McCarthy's fractured conference has only passed one of 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2024. Among the GOP's "five families" is the House Freedom Caucus (HFC), which does not publicly list its members but is made up of a few dozen legislators, including Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Vice Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

In terms of the appropriations legislation for the next fiscal year, the HFC said in a statement Monday that "we remain committed to restoring the true FY 2022 topline spending level of $1.471 trillion without the use of gimmicks or reallocated rescissions to return the bureaucracy to its pre-Covid size while allowing for adequate defense funding."

"In the eventuality that Congress must consider a short-term extension of government funding through a continuing resolution, we refuse to support any such measure that continues Democrats' bloated Covid-era spending and simultaneously fails to force the Biden administration to follow the law and fulfill its most basic responsibilities," the caucus continued. "Any support for a 'clean' continuing resolution would be an affirmation of the current FY 2023 spending level grossly increased by the lame-duck December 2022 omnibus spending bill that we all vehemently opposed just seven months ago."

The HFC declared that its members will refuse to support any CR that does not include the House-passed Secure the Border Act, "address the unprecedented weaponization" of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and "end the Left's cancerous woke policies in the Pentagon undermining our military's core warfighting mission."

The Pentagon language likely relates to U.S. military policies on abortion and gender-affirming care as well as diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility while the DOJ comment is widely seen as a reference to investigations of former President Donald Trump, who has been indicted in four cases this year—including in two probes led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland after the Republican announced his 2024 presidential campaign.

"We will oppose any attempt by Washington to revert to its old playbook of using a series of short-term funding extensions designed to push Congress up against a December deadline to force the passage of yet another monstrous, budget-busting, pork-filled, lobbyist handout omnibus spending bill at year's end and we will use every procedural tool necessary to prevent that outcome," the HFC added Monday. "Lastly, we will oppose any blank check for Ukraine in any supplemental appropriations bill."

Democrats in Congress quickly warned that the faction of Republicans was up to no good, with Schumer saying in a statement Monday that "if the House decides to go in a partisan direction it will lead to a Republican-caused shutdown."

Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) said that "extreme House Republicans are now threatening to send us into a reckless government shutdown if they don't get their way. A shutdown would be a disaster for Virginians—from missed paychecks to lapses in essential government services that families rely on."

Referencing Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote on social media that "House Republicans are determined to shut down the government and crash our economy. We will fight these MAGA extremists every step of the way. For. The. People."

:{:{}:

The New Republic's Tori Otten also suggested that "tanking the economy" could be the goal, noting that the HFC made similar demands earlier this year before McCarthy struck a debt ceiling deal with Democratic President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection:

The government shutdown in 2018 cost the United States $11 billion, including $3 billion in economic activity that will never be recovered, the Congressional Budget Office said at the start of the following year.With a presidential election on the horizon, the Freedom Caucus could be looking for ways to undermine Biden any way it can. Destroying the economy he's helping to recover would do just that.

The Washington Post reported Monday that "White House spokesperson Olivia Dalton told reporters that she had no updates on whether Biden plans to sign a continuing resolution."

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biden promised mvp to get BBB? granholm boosted before deal? manchin talk retire vs jim justice?

https://www.alternet.org/how-manchin-and-sinema-quietly-influenced-debt-ceiling-negotiations-report/

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an 5 23

no lnx

U.S. economy dodged a major bullet on Thursday night, June 1, when the U.S. Senate voted 63-36 to raise the country's debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had been warning that if Congress didn't get some type of budget worked out soon, the U.S. economy would begin to default on its debt obligations on Monday, June 5 — setting off an "economic and financial catastrophe."

After the budget agreement that President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) worked out passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, 314-117, on Wednesday, May 31, it went to the U.S. Senate for consideration. Liberal Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and conservative Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) reached an agreement as well, and the debt ceiling bill is now headed to Biden's desk to be signed into law.

Members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus tried to derail the Biden/McCarthy agreement, hoping it would die in the House and never make it the Senate. But their efforts proved fruitless.

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READ MORE: 'Cruel and shortsighted': Progressives blast Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling deal

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Those efforts are the focus of two early June articles: one in the liberal-leaning The New Republic, the other in the conservative Bulwark. And between the two, the Freedom Caucus' campaign against the bill is slammed from both the left and the right.

In The New Republic, journalist Michael Tomasky stresses that ultimately, the Freedom Caucus were the biggest "losers" of all in the debt ceiling battle.

"Well, I'm officially not scared of the Freedom Caucus anymore," Tomasky declares. "The big losers in this debt deal? Not Joe Biden, by a long shot. Politically, he's the biggest winner. Not Kevin McCarthy. He did what politicians normally do — he cut a deal — and he's still the speaker. Not the Democratic Party's left; 46 of them voted against the bill, but that was all orchestrated so that some Democrats could protest the cuts in the deal while Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries made sure the party as a whole backed their president. I'm certain Pramila Jayapal, the House Progressive Caucus chair who voted 'no,' supports Joe Biden no less fully today than she did yesterday."

Tomasky continues, "No — the losers are the Freedom Caucus. Remember six months ago? Two months ago? They were going to kill this deal, submarine their own speaker, cost him his job, and send the country into default and the world into economic chaos…. Where does this leave the Freedom Caucus? Completely and utterly toothless. They whined, but that's really about it."

READ MORE: 'Indefensible' Republicans demand 'capitulation' in debt ceiling crisis: Rachel Maddow producer

In The Bulwark, Never Trump conservative Will Saletan slams Freedom Caucus members for playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy.

"On the Republican right," Saletan explains, "there's a cluster of (House) lawmakers who voted no — or who urged their colleagues to vote no —in part because Democrats endorsed the bill. To these lawmakers, anything the other party supports is suspect. This cluster of Republicans — what I call the antagonism caucus— is a subset of the House Freedom Caucus…. The antagonism caucus doesn't rely entirely on Democrats as a sign of what to avoid. It also steers away from anything supported by moderate — or even reasonable — Republicans."

The "antagonism caucus" members, Saletan laments, were willing to put the U.S. economy at risk simply to express their disdain for Democrats.

"Partisan polarization is bad for governing and policymaking," Saletan warns. "It's sad when public servants rely on negative tribalism, not affirmative principles, to guide their conduct. And in the case of the big national challenges such as defending Ukraine and paying America's debts, it's particularly dangerous."

READ MORE: Janet Yellen gives hard deadline for GOP to end economic hostage situation

Find The New Republic's full article here and read The Bulwark's full article at this link.

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Republicans have no coherent 'fiscal proposals' as they 'hold the debt ceiling hostage': columnist ›

Janet Yellen brings dire warning on looming debt default to Wall Street execs ›

'These guys are a bad reality show': Senate Democrat blasts House Republicans over the debt ceiling ›

'Clown car': MAGA Republicans blasted for threatening to 'tank economy to help Trump win'

https://www.alternet.org/mccarthy-work-requirements/

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debt hostage

an 5 23

right-wing Republican members of the United States House of Representatives have drummed up an extensive list of excuses about why they oppose the deal struck by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and President Joe Biden to raise the debt ceiling.

The latest example came from Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Wisconsin) late Tuesday afternoon when Grothman groused that the bill is too lenient toward economically disadvantaged Americans.

"They left low-income housing untouched. I think as far as discouraging work and discouraging marriage, I think low-income housing is even a more dangerous program than, uh, than the food stamps," Grothman asserted.

"So I'm including low-income housing in the mix of having work requirements. The amendment is drafted, just includes Section Eight housing, which is an error on my part cuz there are other low-income housings as well. But that's what we have before us," Grothman continued. "I would appreciate if you'd let that to the floor because I don't think our team fought on the low-income housing front at all."

Watch Grothman's remarks below or at this link.

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https://boingboing.net/2023/05/25/rnc-chairperson-thinks-global-economic-chaos-will-help-the-republican-party.html

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https://www.alternet.org/republicans-will-butcher-va-funding-while-using-vets-as-political-props-gold-star-mom/

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https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-jesse-watters-tells-house-republicans-force-joe-biden-resign-or-were-going-blow up debt limit

https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-instructs-republicans-not-be-scared-defaulting-national-debt

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https://www.alternet.org/us-families-hunger-escalates-cuts/

an common dr 5 23

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dems hammer hoosyage BS on VA, but may 9 mtg?

https://www.alternet.org/biden-gop-veterans/

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https://www.mediamatters.org/social-security/right-wing-media-provides-safe-space-house-republicans-call-cuts-social-security

right-wing media figures and activists continue to call for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, even as leaders of the Republican Party deny that slashing benefits for seniors is a goal. Conservative pundits are making these demands against the backdrop of ongoing debt ceiling negotiations between the White House and the Republican-controlled House, perpetuating the myth that federal spending is out of control as an excuse to push austerity policies.

Conservative orthodoxy has long held that Social Security and Medicare need to be “reformed,” a euphemism for cutting benefits or the raising eligibility age for future enrollees of either program. Nearly 90% of people over 65 were receiving Social Security checks as of the end of last year, representing about 30% of their income, according to official figures. As of last September, more than 65 million people were on Medicare. Slashing federal spending for either of those programs is politically unpopular, and some conservatives have changed their messaging — if not their underlying ideology — as a result.

Former President Donald Trump, for example, recently released an ad attacking Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – who is expected to announce his candidacy shortly – for backing cuts to the programs. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has also promised not to include the programs in the massive spending reductions his party is seeking.

But old habits die hard, and there is no shortage of recent examples of conservative media figures, activists, and politicians who have made it clear that their goal is to weaken and undermine these programs, often under the pretext of protecting them in the long term.

Townhall editor Katie Pavlich illustrated this dynamic last week on Fox News, when she referenced the national debt as a justification for cutting benefits to seniors.“The bottom line is that for either party in Washington, if they want to actually address this $32 trillion problem, someone is going to have to propose spending -- legislation that takes on reforming social security and Medicare,” Pavlich said. “Those are the things that are driving the debt." vid]

fox News anchor John Roberts showed how the Republican talking point infiltrates the network’s so-called straight news coverage.

“There’s all this talk about how to get spending under control, and I think people on both sides rationally know there is no way to get spending under control unless you start to implement reforms to things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, but neither side wants to come forward unilaterally and say, ‘Here’s our plan to do it,’” Roberts said. “There needs to be cooperation, they need to reach out across the aisle and until they do that, that debt ceiling is just going to keep bumping up and bumping up and bumping up — look at where it is now, more than $31 trillion, it's stunning.”

Roberts’ argument rests on the unstated and incorrect assumption that the US budget is analogous to a household budget, a fallacy that has been repeatedly debunked.

Earlier this month, Fox News host Mark Levin called for cuts on his radio show, even as he denied he was doing so. “Now, this isn't about cutting them,” Levin said. “This is about changing certain variables in these programs for future generations.”

“One of the proposals that was made several years ago, and I think what DeSantis voted for, and I would have voted for it too, was to raise the retirement age to 70,to grandfather in all current beneficiaries and those who will bebeneficiaries within the next 10 years, so anybody 55 and older, because it's not gonna exist,” he continued.

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk similarly advocated for reducing benefits to seniors in the future, also positioning himself as telling a harsh but necessary truth. “Current beneficiaries, I don't think anything should be touched, but yes, there need to be some adjustments for future retirees,” Kirk said. “And if you even say that, it's like the third rail.”

The right-wing outlet The Epoch Times positively covered presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s calls to gut Social Security and Medicare as well, with the headline: “Haley Promises Supporters She Will Address the Nation’s Huge Deficit.”

Speaking in a barn in the legislative district where she got her political start, Nikki Haley, former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor, said the nation needs to get its fiscal house in order.

…

And that work, she said, will include reforming entitlements.

“Social Security will be bankrupt in 10 years. Medicare will be bankrupt in five,” she said.

Fellow Republican presidential primary candidate Mike Pence also advocated for reductions to Social Security and Medicare, saying “we’ve got to put them on the table in the long term.”

On former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) broke from the official leadership line to consider reducing seniors’ benefits. “I believe that we have to have a discussion about raising the age of Social Security,” Gaetz said.

Right-wing site The Daily Caller was more honest than most in a story from earlier this month headlined: “Despite The Establishment’s Best Efforts, Some Republicans Want To Reform Entitlements.”

National Review, which has long positioned itself as the intellectual vanguard of the conservative movement, has also been open about their desire to weaken Social Security and Medicare.

In a blog post pegged to Trump’s attack ad, senior writer Noah Rothman defended DeSantis on the grounds that “the longtime Republican lawmaker once evinced support for longtime Republican positions: specifically, the urgent and undeniable national imperative for reforming America’s unfunded entitlement programs before they collapse.”

In another, contributor Jack Salmon called for “raising the retirement age to at least 68, indexing retirement age to life expectancy, and adopting chained Consumer Price Index [CPI] as the preferred metric for measuring annual cost-of-living adjustments.” Research shows that moving to chained CPI would reduce benefits for seniors.

Russ Vought, a Christian nationalist sympathizer and the founder of the right-wing think tank the Center for Renewing America, has been at the center of the debt ceiling debate, including pushing for massive cuts to social welfare programs. Like McCarthy, Vought’s official line is that his organization isn’t targeting Social Security or Medicare, but diverges from the House leader in acknowledging that those programs are only off the table for the short term.

“The House Republicans are not making Social Security and Medicare a fight on this debt limit,” Vought said on Fox News last month. He added that his organization’s budget targeted Medicaid, while also admitting that when it came to Social Security and Medicare, “We have to reform those programs over time.”

While Social Security and Medicare are universal programs that benefit seniors, and are incredibly politically durable as a result, Medicaid is a targeted anti-poverty program whose recipients conservatives are happy to demonize. There is no small irony that the faux-populist wing of the Republican Party — which includes Bannon and Vought — are doing their best to deny health care to the working class.

Vought frequently expresses his eagerness to slash Medicaid coverage by implementing work requirements. Public health experts call that a “terrible idea,” but it is nonetheless one that conservatives keep proposing. “You’ve been talking about the work requirements,” Bannon said to Vought on an April 24 edition of War Room.

Vought responded, arguing to get significant fiscal reductions in spending “you have to really begin to reform Medicaid, as I’ve proposed, and get people who are adults without children off of the Medicaid program.”

Bannon has repeatedly advocated for reducing the federal budget by cutting Medicaid. On April 18, he reiterated that “Medicare and Social Security are off the table,” but “you can get there” by “getting into Medicaid.” He similarly called for “massive cuts” to Medicaid earlier this year at the Conservative Political Action Conference, citing Vought’s work.

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the House GOP plan to add work requirements to Medicaid would result in 10 million people losing their coverage.

The through-line from all of these statements are clear. Conservatives in government and right-wing media are laying the foundation to eviscerate the limited but important social programs for seniors and the working class. Their denials are paper-thin, when they’re even offered at all.

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{{

https://www.alternet.org/worst-house-speaker-in-history/

debt nyse

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https://www.alternet.org/debt-ceiling-krugman/ red states hurt more

https://www.alternet.org/send/kevin-mccarthy-2659874733/

https://www.alternet.org/worst-house-speaker-in-history/

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no lnx

an 4 23

barely ...Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke at the New York Stock Exchange Monday, attempting to convince Wall Street that if the nation defaults on its debts in a few months and causes a global financial crisis, it’s all going to be President Joe Biden’s fault. That’s a tough sell since it’s been McCarthy’s GOP that has been arguing for months that a default could be managed by the Treasury Department while they flailed around unable to come up with a plan of their own.

“He’s probably trying to reassure investors and Wall Street … that Congress is capable of doing something, and we’re going to do something,” Rep. Steve Womack told The Washington Post, calling it a “test” for McCarthy. He added that the “real problem” is whether McCarthy can find 218 votes among the GOP to pass any kind of bill, much less a plan to present to the White House.

One thing McCarthy apparently wants is to make people go hungry. A centerpiece to the budget-cutting message he took to Wall Street is steep cuts to food assistance programs. That’s getting a tepid response from Republicans in the Senate (where it’s not going to pass). One GOP Senate aide scoffed “I mean, Godspeed. Get what you can. We’re going to live in reality over here.”

Arkansas GOP Sen. John Boozman reiterated that reality, saying it “would be difficult to pass in the Senate with 60 votes.” He’s doubtful it would even get 218 in the House GOP. “You look at the margin in the House,” he said, “It might be difficult to pass it in the House.”

McCarthy has four votes to spare, and plenty of his members have constituents among the 41 million low-income Americans who get Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program help. That includes a bunch of swing-state Republicans, including a new group of freshmen members from New York.

That’s just one aspect of the massive cuts McCarthy would have to pass to achieve the kind of spending reductions he’s talking about–cuts that he’s going to find impossible to find 218 votes for.

That’s just one reason he has no plan, as Biden was quick to point out. “Show me his budget,” Biden told reporters early Sunday morning, on his return from his trip to Ireland. Biden released his budget on March 9. McCarthy has released nothing. Not even an agreed upon outline for the cuts he’s demanding.

"I don't know what we're negotiating if I don't know what they want, what they're going to do,” Biden stressed.

That’s one reason the White House is as adamant as it is in arguing that the only option is a clean debt ceiling that is separate from budget negotiations. They can count to 218, even if McCarthy can’t. They can also point to plenty of evidence that just one side of this argument thinks that breaching the debt limit isn’t such a big deal.

Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the White House, responded to the latest from McCarthy in a statement reflecting that. The House should “immediately take a default on our obligations–which would worsen the fiscal outlook–off the table.”

“House Republicans must address the debt limit; that’s their non-negotiable obligation under the Constitution,” Bates said.

House Republicans have spent more time putting together an inoperable plan for what the Treasury Department could do after a default rather than putting together any kind of budget to take to Biden to begin a real negotiating process. Taking the nation into default has actually become a thing that some Republicans think should happen. For real.

“My view is that the crisis at hand is the debt; it’s not that we might not pass the debt ceiling,” said Stephen Moore, a leading economist at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation. “It’s that we can’t just stay on this path. There will be a financial train wreck.”

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, real economists’ hair is on fire. “It will be financial chaos,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, if the nation even comes close to default. “Our fiscal problems will be meaningfully worse. … Our geopolitical standing in the world will be undermined.”

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an 4 23

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is poised to propose cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which supports millions of Americans — but many of his Republican colleagues doubt he'll be successful,Politico reports. }}:

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https://www.alternet.org/worst-house-speaker-in-history/

debt nyse

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an 4 23

According to The Washington Post, over the last few weeks, the "GOP has focused its attention on two anti-poverty programs: Medicaid, which enrolls the poorest families in health insurance, and food stamps" — or SNAP — "which provide grocery benefits to those in need."

The Post reports:

[The GOP's] demands largely come in the context of a brewing fight over the federal budget. Many Republicans have said that federal aid programs offer a way for policymakers toboost U.S. workforce participation [3.5%?!] while saving Washington money — a stance that infuriates Democrats, aid workers and others, who say such changes could harm vulnerable families still reeling since the coronavirus pandemic.

READ MORE: 'Cowards': GOP pushes bill targeting food aid for the poor

However, Politico reports Senate Democrats are not going for it, having "said such measures are dead on arrival in the upper chamber, and with the help of key Senate Republicans, they have killed off a series of similar House GOP efforts over the years — including a 2018 push involving McCarthy and his current top debt limit lieutenant Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA)."

Politico notes "the early response from Senate Republicans this time around does not bode well for a different outcome in 2023.

An anonymous Republican lawmaker's aide said regarding the proposal, "I mean, Godspeed. Get what you can. We're going to live in reality over here."

Similarly, Politico adds Sen. John Boozman (R-AK), who is a lead on the Agriculture Committee the controls SNAP, said days "after the 2022 midterms that the effort 'would be difficult to pass in the Senate with 60 votes.'"

READ MORE: 'If it were Matt Gaetz': Florida Congressman floats cutting SNAP

Likewise, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) said of McCarthy's measure, "I'm sure it won't be easy" to achieve.

Politico reports:

Already, the talk of shrinking SNAP, which currently serves 41 million low-income Americans,is raising pressure on many Republicans that represent districts President Joe Biden won in 2020. Several of those members have raised internal concerns, especially about proposals from their colleagues that would add work requirements for some low-income parents who have children under 18 living at home, according to two other people involved in those conversations, who asked for anonymity to discuss internal caucus matters.

"The President has been clear that he will oppose policies that push Americans into poverty or cause them to lose health care," White House spokesman Michael Kikukawa said according to The Post. "That's why he opposes Republican proposals that would take food assistance and Medicaid away from millions of people by adding burdensome, bureaucratic requirements."

READ MORE: GOP ramps up cruel push for work requirements

Politico's full report is available at this link. The Washington Post's report is here (subscription required).

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Thanking Black Voters Means Saving the Social Safety Net ›

GOP taking budget advice from Trump official who wants to cut $2 trillion from Medicaid ›

'Poverty is a policy choice': Millions of Americans facing cuts to food aid ›

an 2 23

food aid for poor families, student debt relief and more: GOP previews new austerity targets

Jake Johnson Common Dreams

Republicans on the House Budget Committee offered a preview Wednesday of the programs they're looking to cut or overhaul as part of any agreement to lift the debt ceiling...

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biden cut ss not all, not even jaj? mtg liar but

https://www.alternet.org/proof-republicans-social-security-medicare/

stand up for seniors and they did; preempted hostage?

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medicare death panel ? debt hostage

https://www.alternet.org:(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}::{/manchin:(style="background-color:#ffff66ff"):}::{-gop/

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an 2 23 MOFO where are these # coming from?

United States Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) told right-wing commentator Steve Bannon on Saturday that he would back efforts to slash spending toward the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as a substitute for cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Nearly half of those Americans who benefit from SNAP are children.

"I just don't understand why we're a country that pays people who could go to work, not to. And when I go..." Gaetz began.

:{:{"How big a deal is that? Does that come away with the emergency measures coming off or is it deeper?" Bannon interrupted to ask.}:

"Oh, considerably deeper. And by the way, it pays you on both sides of the ledger, right? If you impose work requirements on all means-tested entitlement programs for working-age people, not for the disabled, not for seniors, but for working-age people, it's a trillion dollars in savings during the ten-year budget window," Gaetz said on War Room.

"This is in Medicaid and other..." Bannon interjected.

"This is in Medicaid and in food stamps," Gaetz stated.

"...in food stamps. Discretionary spending," Bannon added.

"Yeah. The biggest chunks are from the Obamacare Medicaid expansion to able-bodied adults and to the SNAP program. It's over 400 billion to SNAP," the congressman continued.

"So Social Security and Medicare are off the table. But you're saying taking Medicaid and other aspects of discretion?" Bannon wondered.

"Well look, if it was Matt Gaetz, I think that we do need reforms to Social Security and Medicare. I understand politically enough people have said that's off the table," Gaetz mused.

"But that can come later," Bannon added.

"By the way, Medicaid should not be a sacred cow.And so it hasn't been," said Gaetz. "You notice people and talk about Medicaid the same way they're talking about Social Security, right? So with Medicaid, I think there's a lot of meat on the bone for savings. In SNAP, you can get over 400 billion in savings."

Watch below or at this link.

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Countless economists have warned that if the United States were to default on its debt obligations, a major financial crisis could result — one with international implications. But if members of Congress don’t come to some type of agreement on the debt ceiling, that could happen.

Journalist Russell Berman discusses that possibility in an article published by The Atlantic on January 27. Berman warns that the situation is dire, and that Democrats are hoping that the less extreme House Republicans can have a positive effect.

“Early this summer,” Berman writes, “the federal government will, in all likelihood, exhaust the ‘extraordinary measures' it is now employing to keep paying the nation’s bills. As the country careens toward that fiscal abyss, Congress will face a now-familiar stalemate: Republicans will refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats agree to cut spending. Democrats will balk. Markets will slide — perhaps precipitously — and the economy will swiftly turn south."

Berman continues, “When that moment arrives, the most important people in Washington won’t be those who work in the White House, or even the party leaders who occupy the Capitol’s most palatial offices. They will be the House Republicans who sit closest to the political center: the so-called moderates. The GOP’s majority is narrow enough that any five Republicans could dash Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s plan to demand a ransom for the debt ceiling. They will have to decide whether to stand with him or join with Democrats to avert a first-ever default on the nation’s debt.”

The “so-called” part is important. The “moderates” that Berman is referring to are conservatives, but they are moderate compared to far-right MAGA members of the House like Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. They are moderate conservatives and aren’t ultra-MAGA.

Former Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania said of such House Republicans, “Those guys will be called on to save the day.”

“Dent is talking about Republicans such as Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, whose Omaha district voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump in 2020,” Berman explains. “Bacon is a leader of the faction of Republicans hoping to serve as a counterweight to the House Freedom Caucus and the far-right hardliners.”

Read The Atlantic’s full article at this link.

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debt ceiling hostage

'Clown car': MAGA Republicans blasted for threatening to 'tank economy to help Trump win'

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food aid for poor families, student debt relief and more: GOP previews​ new austerity targets

food aid for poor families, student debt relief and more: GOP previews new austerity targets