All things debt ceiling/default (current default date 6/5)

[carrotsmakemefat]

May 22, 2023 14:58:35 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

May 22, 2023 14:26:08 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Is it a budget issue now, or *was* it a budget issue when they passed the 2023 budget months ago? And will be a budget issue in the future. It’s really hard to understand why, when the budget for 23 is signed, sealed, and delivered but they want to go renegotiate. Or, at least that’s how it feels.

You agreed to pay be $100 for services rendered, but now you say you can’t afford it and want to pay me $80?

They're negotiating for the NEXT budget cycle, so FY 2024. They want to lock in the total now, vs waiting to see what's in next year's budget.

And funding levels are much lower than our 23 levels. Even the programs and Departments that aren’t usually at risk for budget cuts are being cut significantly (and I work in one of those key areas). Our last staffer visit with the HAC folks we were told to expect FY 22 levels for FY 24

[rubytue]

May 22, 2023 18:37:22 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

May 22, 2023 14:58:35 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

They're negotiating for the NEXT budget cycle, so FY 2024. They want to lock in the total now, vs waiting to see what's in next year's budget.

And funding levels are much lower than our 23 levels. Even the programs and Departments that aren’t usually at risk for budget cuts are being cut significantly (and I work in one of those key areas). Our last staffer visit with the HAC folks we were told to expect FY 22 levels for FY 24

My agency budget is a rounding error for the big ones. Like significantly under $200M. For my whole agency.

[neverfstop]

I'm struggling with the word negotiation....what are the republican's willing to give up? NOTHING. They are holding our government functionality hostage. The only thing the GOP is negotiating is how much the democrats are willing to cut spending....

[seeyalater52]

May 22, 2023 19:36:10 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

I'm struggling with the word negotiation....what are the republican's willing to give up? NOTHING. They are holding our government functionality hostage. The only thing the GOP is negotiating is how much the democrats are willing to cut spending....

These are the people we are supposed to be seeking a “bipartisan deals” with. Meanwhile they’re intent on imploding this country in a goddamn dangerous culture war. So no, I’m not particularly interested in their brand of “negotiation” or frankly the people who are interested in extending an olive branch. It’s reckless.

[Bad Dingo]

www.reuters.com/markets/us/fresh-round-debt-ceiling-talks-kick-off-us-default-worries-grow-2023-05-22/

I'm not sure how we can "both sides" this.
www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-DEBT/BUDGET/lgpdkbaezvo/graphic.jpg

[womet]

I found this video from Jeff Jackson (D-NC) to be really interesting.

[seeyalater52]

100% to Jeff Jackson. And this is why beyond the hilarious laughingstock of McCarthy’s journey to Majority Leader there was a fear that the far right crumbs of the party would sink the whole ship. These are not people taking a stand due to consistent ideology or guiding principles, these are lunatics that have no idea what they want except to burn down the government and bring the rest of us (and in this case the world) with it, just to “teach Democrats a lesson” about spending.

You can of course look at the whole history of the past what 50 years? More? And conclude that Republicans are being immensely hypocritical in a pattern of shockingly bad behavior around the debt ceiling. And you can complain as I certainly do about how dumb it is to complain about spending levels for vital programs when your party is starving the government of revenue every time they’re in power. But fundamentally this is a game of chicken with a few bad actors who are not negotiating in good faith and mostly don’t even agree with each other about their desired outcome. And it’s one we can’t lose bc the consequences are so dire so we are stuck with whatever we end up with and it’s bad for the American people but hey McCarthy gets to keep his job.

[maudefindlay]

And during closed door meetings the GOP auctioned off a tube of chapstick used by Kevin McCarthy. The winning bidder? MTG at 100k. I think he has to attend a fundraising dinner with her too, but the absurdity and timing of this is just too much.

[seeyalater52]

May 24, 2023 5:50:27 GMT -5 maudefindlay said:

And during closed door meetings the GOP auctioned off a tube of chapstick used by Kevin McCarthy. The winning bidder? MTG at 100k. I think he has to attend a fundraising dinner with her too, but the absurdity and timing of this is just too much.

I swear to god I had to read this in 3 different outlets before I realized it was not satire.

[pixy0stix]

Source or it didn't happen.

[seeyalater52]

May 24, 2023 9:15:25 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Source or it didn't happen.

Pick your poison

www.politico.com/news/2023/05/23/house-gop-auctions-mccarthy-chapstick-debt-talks-00098347

www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/05/23/marjorie-taylor-greene-buys-kevin-mccarthys-used-chapstick-for-100000/

[pixy0stix]

MTG is just so grateful that someone gave her crazy a seat at the table.

[kellady]

May 24, 2023 9:19:31 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

May 24, 2023 9:15:25 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Source or it didn't happen.

Pick your poison

www.politico.com/news/2023/05/23/house-gop-auctions-mccarthy-chapstick-debt-talks-00098347

www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/05/23/marjorie-taylor-greene-buys-kevin-mccarthys-used-chapstick-for-100000/

Wow this is a slap in the face to regular people as they watch talk about the US approaching default, and possible delay of benefits.
But hey, let’s reduce those SNAP benefits, and make sure Medicaid recipients work more, as long as MTG can afford a hundred grand publicity stunt.

[sonrisa]

The chapstick stupidity, while tone deaf, feels right in line. The later portion of the article - where Gaetz is questioning whether a default will actually happen - is disturbing.

[pixy0stix]

May 24, 2023 10:06:14 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

The chapstick stupidity, while tone deaf, feels right in line. The later portion of the article - where Gaetz is questioning whether a default will actually happen - is disturbing.

I just read this in another article. This is the problem with electing people that have no idea how government works - aka budgets, actual deadlines, etc. Gaetz and his ilk are all there for the power and their pretend "ideals" not for the nuts and bolts of shit. 

(Article I was reading - www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/24/debt-ceiling-gop-demands/ )

[mrspez07]

I don’t usually click on Fox News links, but the headline is: “Biden Must Resist Republican debt ceiling demands. Here’s what he needs to do instead.”

What? an anti-republican story on Fox News??!! It’s an op-ed by Bernie Sanders. He calls out all the wrong things the Rs are promoting/supporting and says Biden should invoke the 14th amendment. It’s not totally wrong but weird it’s for Fox. up is down and down is up.
I’m not going to encourage clicks, you can find it searching op ed Bernie and Fox

[rubytue]

May 24, 2023 9:22:44 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

MTG is just so grateful that someone gave her crazy a seat at the table.

Isn’t it just one big crazy table these days?

[cattledogkisses]

I'm hoping someone can talk me down, or at least help me come up with an emergency plan of what we should be doing.

We're under contract on a new house and scheduled to close June 9, and then we're planning to list our current house once we close. I am starting to panic that if the default happens we're going to end up with a sky-high interest rate on the new house, and be unable to sell our current house at all, let alone for the price we're hoping to get for it.

Also, 100% of our household income comes from the federal government, so the thought of paychecks being delayed in the middle of this is not fun.

[TR]

cattledogkisses - can't you lock in an interest rate for your new house now? I don't know how a default would affect the rest, but I thought you could lock in an interest rate within, like, 30 days of closing?

[cattledogkisses]

May 25, 2023 14:09:13 GMT -5 TR said:

cattledogkisses - can't you lock in an interest rate for your new house now? I don't know how a default would affect the rest, but I thought you could lock in an interest rate within, like, 30 days of closing?

Thanks, I’ll admit that this isn’t something I’m very knowledgeable about. We haven’t locked an interest rate yet because we just (finally) finalized our contract (the sellers have been a pain to try to work with), but we’re going to do that now. 

[mrsd2006]

May 24, 2023 9:22:44 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

MTG is just so grateful that someone gave her crazy a seat at the table.

the head of the table, no less
www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/marjorie-taylor-greene-house-democrats-laughter-decorum-1234741675/

[womet]

May 25, 2023 14:03:24 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

I'm hoping someone can talk me down, or at least help me come up with an emergency plan of what we should be doing.

We're under contract on a new house and scheduled to close June 9, and then we're planning to list our current house once we close. I am starting to panic that if the default happens we're going to end up with a sky-high interest rate on the new house, and be unable to sell our current house at all, let alone for the price we're hoping to get for it.

Also, 100% of our household income comes from the federal government, so the thought of paychecks being delayed in the middle of this is not fun.

We too close on our house on June 9th (woohoo-- 2 weeks!). And 100% of our income comes from the federal government. I'm a little worried too but trying to remain hopeful. 

[curbsideprophet]

I am definitely frustrated with not knowing if I will paid in the month of June. We have some work we need to do on our house which is going to cost 5 figures. We have money for a down payment on the work, but will need to finance some of it. I don't feel comfortable starting the work at this point since I am not sure what is happening with my pay. So we are on hold with starting the work until this gets sorted.

They updated the default date to June 5th today.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/26/debt-ceiling-deal/

Negotiators are closing in on an agreement that would raise the debt ceiling by two years — a key priority of the Biden administration — while also essentially freezing government spending on domestic programs and slightly increasing funding for the military and veterans affairs, said three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations. Although the deal is expected to include key GOP priorities, such as partially clawing back new funding for the Internal Revenue Service, a growing chorus of conservatives has balked at how little the deal appears to cut government spending overall — especially because it would also give up their party’s leverage on the debt ceiling until after the 2024 presidential election.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a top member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, described what he has learned so far of the emerging deal as “watered down.” Norman urged McCarthy to hew closely to the legislation that conservatives helped craft and pass last month, which raised the debt ceiling only into next year and coupled the increase with larger spending cuts than the two parties are now discussing.


“This is totally unacceptable, and it’s not what we agreed to,” Norman said.

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), another House conservative, complained about reports that the deal would raise the debt ceiling by more money than the bill approved by the House. Good said the emerging deal would do so “for a whole lot less in return that we need from a policy standpoint, from a fiscal standpoint.” He added: “And if that were true, that would absolutely collapse the Republican majority for this debt ceiling increase.”

[1confused1]

We have a debt ceiling town hall next week at work. I’m trying not to freak out about potentially not receiving a paycheck.

[Saudade]

www.cnn.com/2023/05/27/politics/debt-limit-negotiations-latest/index.html

Deal reached 🤔🤔

[krystee]

Anyone know how many Republicans have to vote for this to get it to pass (I read the article and it didn’t say)? Are Democrats likely to all vote for it, even with the food stamp concessions, to avoid default under a democratic president running for re-election next year?

[seeyalater52]

May 27, 2023 21:08:13 GMT -5 krystee said:

Anyone know how many Republicans have to vote for this to get it to pass (I read the article and it didn’t say)? Are Democrats likely to all vote for it, even with the food stamp concessions, to avoid default under a democratic president running for re-election next year?

Democrats will vote for it. I have absolutely no idea whether McCarthy can control his side, so that is a major wildcard.

The SNAP work requirements was (VERY sadly, do not get me wrong) always going to be a sacrificial lamb. I’m not just saying that because I’m biased and Medicaid didn’t get work requirements but the fact that health program work requirements would have been absolutely unprecedented whereas there is a bit more flex historically (again, very unfortunately) with TANF and SNAP. I’m actually somewhat surprised the deal isn’t worse but hoping McCarthy can pull it together even so.

The fact that they’re going so hard on “childless adults” is a reeeeeeally big problem though, and signals really shitty things for safety net programs moving forward. If Republicans take House and Senate in 2024 we are so fucked even if Biden wins re-election.

[neverfstop]

The take i am seeing is that Republicans got basically nothing...we'll see if they can wrangle the votes for it.

[trentcrimm]

May 28, 2023 6:01:29 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

The take i am seeing is that Republicans got basically nothing...we'll see if they can wrangle the votes for it.

Same, and per Twitter the extreme righties are howling because they don't like the compromises. Which, of course, and since Kevin is one vote from being ousted I doubt his ability to wrangle anything. Also because he's just not good at his job.

[rubytue]

So I guess it’s not clear if they have the votes for the deal.

We had dinner Saturday with my friend whose wife works for another cabinet level agency nearby (I’m at a small, independent agency). She said their union (or agency, I couldn’t tell which) scuttlebutt was no pay checks, and basically saying to slow roll things, do the bare minimum, etc because we wouldn’t be getting paid. Unsurprisingly, there has been no word except “this isn’t something to be concern about” at mine. So, I was looking up what it means, because I’ve been all la la la about work and paycheck. But I think I’m just trying not to borrow worry since nothing about it is under my control.

anyway:

“It’s quite inconsistent across the government. You’ve got some agencies treating this like a shutdown, thinking about stop work orders, determining who’s essential and who’s not,” she said. “We’ve got other agencies thinking, ‘Oh, we have appropriations, therefore we have the cash,’ but that’s not exactly what this situation is either. And then we’ve got a third subset of folks who are waiting for [the Office of Management and Budget] to come up with guidance. They want that so that they can that they have faith and trust and confidence that they can continue to do their jobs.”

Anyway… This whole article is interesting, apparently their is a court case in MA to declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional.
federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2023/05/agencies-know-what-to-do-during-a-government-shutdown-but-default-is-new-territory/