The Senate vote will be sometime next week:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) seemed to twist the knife on Republicans’ decision to surrender on its plan to exact policy concessions in exchange for a debt ceiling hike. “This shows the absurdity and the lack of common sense and reasoning that Republicans in Congress have,” Reid said Tuesday after weekly caucus lunches.
Reid noted that the GOP’s previous plan included reversing cuts to military retirement benefits. The rub is that in the latest plan House Republicans pushed included something of an about-face. They wanted to reverse cuts to military retirement benefits that were included in the Ryan-Murray deal and were supported by House Republicans.
Republicans have suggested that the clean debt ceiling hike was the best option they had available at this point. Earlier on Tuesday Boehner said there just wasn’t enough votes for the GOP’s now-nixed plan.
“We don’t have 218 votes,” Boehner said. “When you don’t have 218 votes, you have nothing.”
Conservative Republicans claim to be against “big government.” Hence the fact that all but 28 Republicans voting against raising the debt ceiling yesterday. Yet most conservative Republicans believe that “big government” NSA spying is necessary at any cost (meaning spending taxpayer dollars) to “keep America safe.” Conservative Republicans also claim that much of what “liberals” want to do is “unconstitutional.” Yet conservative Republicans believe that the president has the constitutional right to order the CIA to use drones to kill American citizens. For conservative Republicans the presidents authority to be the judge, jury and executioner is spelled out in the Constitution. Republicans are a clear and present danger to America.