Senate Passes Debt-Ceiling "Compromise" That 1/4 Of The Senate Hates
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is giddy exiting the Senate after
the vote earlier today—he probably has a terrarium full of lettuce awaiting
him
WASHINGTON D.C: After the House's passage of the debt-ceiling "compromise"
that will raise the debt ceiling through 2013 and cut more than $2.1
trillion in government spending without raising taxes or closing corporate
loopholes, the Senate passed the bill today 74-26. The bill is expected to be
signed by the president "immediately." Among the lawmakers who voted against
the legislation was New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who said in a
statement, "This deal…is an unbalanced approach that cuts deeply into
discretionary spending while being overwhelmingly stacked in favor of large
corporations. It is simply not in the best interests of the middle class." Middle
class? What middle class?
Congressman Jerry Nadler agrees, and through a statement, explained his
"No" vote last night by calling the legislation a "callous plan that will
strangle the middle class and working poor, to say nothing of the elderly and
kids." He also carried the "terrorist" metaphor laid out by Vice President
Biden and the liberal members of the caucus, by saying, "Republicans are
holding us all hostage."
But as a Politico profile of the deal illustrates, Biden shouldn't be
calling anyone a terrorist: he was a major architect of the "compromise." Early
on in the negotiations, Biden presented Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell with a plan that included zero tax increases, effectively bargaining
away most of the concessions Democrats could have received from Republicans.
The one point on which Biden didn't budge? Assuring Republicans that
Defense would be cut the least. "We just can't give there." Thanks, Joe. At least
that exorbitant website about saving endangered turtles made the chopping
block.
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