Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Boehner To Roll Over Next Year, Too

Terry Jeffrey figures that Boehner had already conceded the debt-limit numbers in the April continuing resolution debate, and Jeffrey has another dispiriting projection:

...In the recent debt-limit negotiations, Boehner could have said to Obama: We will increase the debt limit just enough to cover the fiscal 2011 spending we agreed to in April's CR. But for fiscal 2012 we will not agree to business as usual on government spending and debt. The Republican-controlled House will pass a series of appropriations for fiscal 2012 that significantly reform government spending and reduce government. We will be happy to debate them with you in September.

Instead, Boehner agreed to increase the debt limit by $2.4 trillion -- the largest debt limit increase in history.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who supported Boehner's deal, predicts the $2.4 trillion increase will last 18 months -- enough to get past next November's elections. Now do this math: $2.4 trillion over 18 months equals $133.33 billion in new debt per month or $1.596 trillion in a year.

A speaker who cuts a debt-limit deal like that is not planning to fight over the 2012 appropriations bills. He is planning to cut another deal.

Maybe. Or maybe Boehner will not be Speaker.

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