Government Shutdown averted...for now at least!

That is, until until December 3rd.

"We are ready to move forward," Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor. "We have an agreement on ... the continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown, and we should be voting on that tomorrow morning."

If the bill is not enacted, the federal government would face a shutdown after the calendar turns to Friday. The deal announced by Schumer would keep the government open through Dec. 3.

Link: Senate reaches deal to avoid government shutdown, Schumer announces

In my opinion, it was never the shutdown that was in question. The debt ceiling is the problem. I tell ya, it's going to be a very cold Christmas that's for sure.

(For add reasons, McConnel wants to see the shutdown happen)

Tired of them playing games. Would be nice to see politicians actually do something. We didn't elect them to do nothing, and I'd like to think at some point in their career early on they were like "I want to do more, I should get into politics."

That might be naive of me to think that, they probably just got into politics for power or because they failed upward.

The debt ceiling is for future spending not current spending. There is no reason to shut down the government if the debt ceiling is not raised. The Democrats want to raise the debt ceiling to pay for their 3.2 trillion Build Back America Bill. If they are to be believed that it is all paid fore or zero expense as the President and Speaker of the House claim there is no reason to raise the debt ceiling.

No the debt ceiling needs to be raised because of the trump tax cuts on the wealthy and HIS increased spending. Once again Jim avoids the truth.

The government shutdown causes pain, but at least it's a valid budgeting process mechanism - a coalition cannot agree on a level of spending/funding for the upcoming fiscal year. I can deal with that.

The debt ceiling is pure bullshit. It needs to be abolished, full stop. It's a relic from the past that no longer serves a valid purpose, and ONLY presents significant downsides. Anyone who seriously considers not raising it/not eliminating it is only advertising their fiscal ignorance or nihilism.

@mattbbpl: Just to clarify, you're advocating for NOT raising the debt ceiling?

@appariti0n: I'm advocating for getting rid of the ceiling entirely.

@JimB: Sorry JimmyBoy, you're wrong. The ceiling is halting the payment for past obligations, not future. Republicans are refusing to pay interest on debt they signed off on.

Which is the best stance to take. The ceiling was implemented in early 1900s and only to appease debt hawks. It serves no purpose other than inflicting pain for political purposes. It was lucky enough to skirt along unnoticed until Newt Gingrich and the GOP started going down the crazy route in the 1990s.

I remember back in 2001 when the US had a surplus and people had more hope in the future of America. 20 years of endless foreign wars and massive corporate bailouts on top of huge corporate tax dodging and gratuitously spending habits ignored by both sides of the political spectrum have robbed tax paying citizens so horribly, it's no wonder American patriotism is at a record low. The debt ceiling was also raised three times from 2017 to 2021 by almost 10 trillion dollars so the argument is just more asinine left and right political bullshit. It doesn't really matter if it's left or right when both sides can just rob tax dollars and blow money for self interests with absolutely no repercussions for it. Who cares what you buy with a credit card that's not yours right?

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/09/debt-limit-qa/

that how russia fell in late 80s.

spend spend spend.

Thank you for concretely illustrating that you don't understand the difference between a budget and the debt ceiling.

I heard in that 3.2 billion dollar bill they snuck in a covid mandate that allows the feds to fine private business up to $700,000 for not having an employee vaccinated.

Its a shame so many of these things are thousands of pages stuffed with a bunch of special interest bullshit. They are so long the people who pass such things don't even have the opportunity to read the whole thing. But they just pass what ever their party leaders tell them to pass.

as usual spineless dems, don't have the sack to go through with government shutdown. This nonsense has been going on for 14 years since the obama administration, and they always negotiate a bill at the end. Though the fights with obama were much worse than it is with biden.

there are morons people on this board that live in a fantasy world and think we can rack up infinite amount of debt and never pay it back.

That's because Democrats tend to be the adults in the room and recognize that stopping government functions has significant costs. It harms their constituents, lowers GDP, and increases the debt further.

Republicans, meanwhile, get to sit back, point at these costs incurred, and childishly shout, "See? The government doesn't work!"

no, we've been giving out way too many handouts anyway. cutting back spending by shutting down government would be a good thing. Though theres a bunch of critical services that may be affected (health care)

Whatever you say, my friend. You'll be paying more for less and causing others' pain, but I'm sure you have your reasons.

@JimB: Jim doesnt know how debt works.

I don't agree with furloughing 850k+ federal employees because of a country's inability to pass any meaningful budgets. The ongoing nausea of passing continuing resolutions and "stop gap" funding is a joke.

Granted, not sure why anyone would bring up the debt at this point. In the last decade, we've doubled the entire national debt. No one bats an eye anymore at "trillions" being thrown around.

@Stevo_the_gamer: Republicans only bat an eye under Democrats. Its a political weapon.

Good. Democrats need to figure out how to pass the big reconciliation bill.

Killing the debt ceiling would be on par with getting the US out of Afghanistan, an end to something that is deeply, truly, foolish. Keep in mind that the debt ceiling doesn't affect Congress. It's a limitation imposed on the Treasury to limit funding for Government operations not explicitly funded by the legislative branch.

Telling the right is calling Democrats spineless for not wanting to tank the economy. Figures.

Congressional Republicans don't actually care about the debt ceiling. It's just a convenient thing to weaponize when they're not in power. I remember when Obama was in office and they harped on and on about debt and spending. Then Trump gets elected and they suddenly have no problem with any of it.

If people would stop electing parasites like McConnel, maybe something could actually get done. But it seems the public wants these kinds of dysfunctional, self serving personalities running things.

That is a false narrative as usual the Trump tax cuts are already factored in the current budget.

The bill the Democrats are trying to pass will not only tank the economy it will tank the country's future.

@JimB: Oh, tell us why!

It's the reason the debt rose. Keep up Jim.

I think you no, the debt rose because of all of the Covid relief packages and the bill being considered by the Democrats will have raised the debt eight trillion dollars in this year alone. There is your debt. Guess what the middle class and everyone else is going to pay for it. In fact the rich get a tax reduction in this piece of shit the Democrats are pushing.

No it did not. It had risen before that. Either you're willfully ignoring facts, unable to grasp concepts, or part of the uneducated base trump brags about. But you're wrong. You're wrong in every single statement you made. I can only assume you get your "news" from propaganda sites.

What a bizarre argument. The "tax cuts" were said to increase the debt by ~1.8 trillion over a 10 year period. One bill alone last year surpassed that margin.

@Stevo_the_gamer: I think you both agree on the numbers (I'm excluding Jim from that statement). The tax cuts increased the debt, and the covid response bills increased it further. I think LJ is arguing against Jim's apparent assertion that the tax cuts didn't increase the debt (which is a common assertion in right wing circles).

Correct. The tax cuts created this mess.

@LJS9502_basic: It's not really a mess. And they didn't create it. But it's weird seeing people condemn a pandemic/recession response for it's addition to the debt while cheering on tax cuts despite their addition to the debt.

It speaks to their priorities.

It wouldn't be a mess if we had government that actually wanted to work. Unfortunately we do not. And yeah, I can't see why any taxpayer complains when taxes are used for the taxpayers.

To split hairs, LJS did state "It's the reason the debt rose;" when he should have said, it's "a" reason. But a las, Trump lives rent free in the mind so it's got to be brought up somehow. Heck, Trump is on his way to become the next godwin's law.

So who should be blamed for the tax cuts last admin?

@Stevo_the_gamer: It seems perfectly applicable to bring them up on the topic of debt drivers, lol. No need for Trump living rent free in heads for the conversation to mention them, it's a natural turn for the conversation to take

You can blame whoever your heart desires, I might start looking here though.

Of course it's natural, which is why it's on its way to be the next godwin's law. lol

Yeah it was still trump's plan but you can keep apologizing for him. He even took credit for it.

I wasn't aware stating the tax cut bill would increase the national debt was apologizing. When it comes to the drafting of legislation, I tend to levy the majority of blame for said poor legislation on Congress itself; same with their abuse of CR's and a distinct inability to pass any budgets--regardless of who is in the White House. But again, you blame whoever your heart desires.

The apology is because you absolve trump for his policies. You're doing it again. You can blame Congress. They sucked as well but they were doing the bidding of their party president. Surely you don't think they'd dismiss his policies?

Where?

Why are you saying 'Congress' like it's a single minded entity? Those cuts were signed by Trump and passed by republican legislators, not democrats.

It's a crazy concept but Congress is a "singular" adjective to describe both the house and Senate. *Mind blown!*

That's how legislation comes forth, Congressional action via both the house and Senate with the executive signing it into law. Did someone say the bill was passed by Democrats?

Your sites never tell you the truth. The first 43 president acuminated a debt of 10 trillion dollars. Obama doubled the debt to 20 trillion, the debt went up to 27 trillion under Trump and Biden is set to increase the debt another 8 trillion in under a year. If Biden gets his way that will mean two Democrats increased the debt by 18 trillion by themselvs.

Using your logic next year the debt ceiling will have to be raised to cover Biden's debt incurred this year. By the way you have no idea the order in which payments are made with the funds available, There is more than enough funds to pay our current obligations. It is for future spending. Republican's nor Democrats can halt the payment on the debt service which is the first bill paid every month.

Uh, yes. That's how it works. And if Biden implemented no new spending at all, it would still need to be raised due to past obligations incurred under prior budgets.

That is noy how it works, when congress spends money they don't have they borrow the money, and pay the interest on the loan. Which is called debt service. Our current debt service is 44 billion dollars a month. The federal government takes in over 300 billion dollars a month. The first thing paid is the debt service which is demanded by the constitution. Next comes defense, Social Security and other social programs and ect. What is left is for congress to decide what to pay. If Biden authorized no new spending the debt ceiling would not have to be raised. The problem with congress is they can not function within a budget. Over thirty years there was budgetary bill that was signed into law the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget But government could not live with in a defined budget. After five years Rudman left the senate in disgust.