Packing for Costa Rica tonight, and my wife keeps telling me that if I would stay away from the computer I would already be finished.
After reading various takes on it at dkos, had really hoped to see the coin solution chosen as a way out of the artificially created debt ceiling fail.
ABCNEWS
By Matthew Larotonda
Jan 12, 2013 6:27pm
White House Denies Call for Trillion-Dollar Coin to Avoid Debt Ceiling
The Obama administration has killed any notion of minting trillion-dollar platinum coins to solve the nation’s debt ceiling woes.
In a written statement released today, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says there are only “two options” to deal with the looming need for the U.S. government to pay creditors for federal funding it has already spent. Minting the proposed currency to pay it off and avoid an impending battle with Capitol Hill is not one of them.
“Congress can pay its bills or it can fail to act and put the nation into default,” he writes.
Carney blames Congressional Republicans for having “played politics” during the last negotiations over the country’s borrowing limit in summer 2011. The stalled talks resulted in a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard and Poor’s.
and
“The President and the American people won’t tolerate Congressional Republicans holding the American economy hostage again simply so they can force disastrous cuts to Medicare and other programs the middle class depend on while protecting the wealthy,” the statement reads. “Congress needs to do its job.”
Now that's great news!
Hope its just not talk, and that the safety net will be protected!
Would like to think so, but Bernie Sanders said again the other day he is not sure the President will protect it from cuts.
Do our part
We should continue to be heard. Here's are some ideas from
Campaign for America's Future
Common Sense For The Budget Madhouse
Don't get sidetracked by the debt-ceiling spin. We lay out seven common-sense principles to guide the important policy fight ahead. The overriding principle: Make the top priority putting people back to work and growing the economy, not weakening the economic supports of seniors and low-income people.
Read Robert Borosage's seven points of common sense for the budget madhouse»
Sounds good to me.
The following graphic is full of win as well!
6:57 PM PT: Democratic Congressman Nadler responds......
"The Congressman Who Jump Started 'Mint The Coin' Criticizes The White House For Ruling Out A Bargaining Chip
Brett LoGiurato | Jan. 12, 2013, 8:05 PM | 347 | 10
http://www.businessinsider.com/...
Here's Nadler's full statement on the situation:
"It's really a shame that the administration is ruling out one of the very few bargaining chips it has with Republican extremists who are intent, once again, on using the debt ceiling as a means of political blackmail. That leaves us just two options of which I'm aware to gain leverage against GOP hostage takers: the 14th amendment and repealing the debt ceiling altogether through legislation I'll soon introduce. We must be prepared to use every weapon within our arsenal to prevent defaulting on our debts and sending our economy into a tailspin."
Nadler was the only member of Congress to explicitly promote the trillion-dollar coin option. The top four Senate Democrats wrote President Barack Obama a letter on Friday urging him to "take any lawful steps" to work around the debt ceiling, but they did not specifically endorse the coin as an option.
Nadler's statement is further evidence that Democrats are somewhat dumbfounded by the administration's decision to rule out the trillion-dollar coin option. Earlier, a Senate Democratic aide told Business Insider that "it's certainly a strange negotiating strategy to go out of your way to decrease your leverage by taking options off the table."
http://www.businessinsider.com/...