Obama Will Ask for $1.2 Trillion Increase in Debt Limit by Week’s End

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Curt ( 7 comments already! )

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Back in August, Congress passed a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling after a highly contentious debate between the two parties. Back then, the fight was over about a $2 trillion increase in spending. So imagine what might happen when Congress returns from vacation to find the president has asked for another $1.2 trillion increase in the limit.

According to Reuters, that’s exactly what Obama isgetting ready to do:

The debt limit is projected to fall within $100 billion of the current cap by December 30. President Barack Obama is expected to ask for additional borrowing authority to increase the limit by $1.2 trillion.

Under the new budget, Congress can only vote to block the debt-ceiling extension with a disapproval resolution. Lawmakers have 15 days within receiving the request to vote down the debt limit increase.

The debt limit currently stands at $15.194 trillion and would increase to $16.394 trillion with the request.

Also of note: the supercommittee launched at the time of the debt deal that was tasked to find at least $1.2 trillion in cuts failed in late November. The minimum amount the committee was supposed cut spending by is, coincidentally, the same amount the president is set to ask Congress to increase the debt limit by.

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Nan G

13 years ago

This reminds me of what Obama pulled (or tried to pull) right after taking office.
He wanted to count money spent not doing ”the surge in Iraq” as $1.6 trillion SAVED.
But it was money we never spent or even planned to spend!
As George Will wrote of Obama’s budget shenanagans at the time:

Why, one wonders, not “save” $5 trillion by proposing to spend that amount to cover the moon with yogurt and then canceling the proposal?

Why, indeed.
Apparently Obama is more concerned with looking good on paper than with really solving financial problems.
Obama could ”save” $1.2 trillion simply by not getting his Debt Limit increase, right?

Nan G

13 years ago

Obama, Feb, 2009:

I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office.

We cannot, and will not, sustain deficits like these without end.
Contrary to the prevailing wisdom in Washington these past few years, we cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration, or the next generation.

In 2008 alone, we paid $250 billion in interest on our debt — one in every 10 taxpayer dollars. That is more than three times what we spent on education that year; more than seven times what we spent on VA health care.

OOPS!

Let’s look at a graphic illustration.
http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/special-obama-budget-deficits-chart-sm.jpg

Compare the 2008 numbers with Obama’s numbers!
We have seen an explosion of debt under Obama!

Nan G

13 years ago

In March 2006, then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., found the notion of raising the debt ceiling quite distasteful.

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure,” he said.

“It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills.

It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. …

Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’

Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.

America has a debt and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/04/obama-2006-vs-obama-january-2011-vs-obama-april-2011-on-the-debt-ceiling/

And now a 180′
ALL of Obama’s ”promises” carry expiration notices.