NEW YORK TIMES: The House speaker, John A. Boehner, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, were preparing separate backup plans to raise the nation’s debt ceiling on Sunday after they and the White House were unable to form a bipartisan plan that would end an increasingly grim standoff over the federal budget.
The dueling plans emerged after Mr. Boehner walked away from negotiations with the White House on Friday, leading to a frustrating weekend of talks in heat-scorched Washington. The leaders of both parties variously negotiated together over the phone, talked separately, conferred with their caucuses and tried to plot an end to the debt crisis that would assure the capital markets around the world that America would meet its debt obligations.
As the Aug. 2 deadline for lifting the debt ceiling nears, warnings are growing that the nation’s economy may be damaged by the protracted stalemate. A downgrade of the nation’s credit rating, which could raise the cost of borrowing, seemed more likely, deal or no deal… (more)
The majority party in the Congress of the United States is not supposed to make a spectacle of itself by denying the validity of public debt for the purpose of crass political gain. The entire world watches as they bicker and maneuver to enact a solution that would have the sole aim of becoming a hindrance in the re-election of President Obama.
Frankly, I am sickened by this petulant, childish attitude of the GOP in particular, and the Tea Party ignoramuses especially. Can’t they grow up for a moment, for the benefit of their country and the rest of the planet? Shouldn’t the whole bunch of them be charged with treason?
Disgust is too nice a verb to describe the feelings of the American people.