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© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Biden cancels trips to Australia, Papua New Guinea; Hiroshima visit still on
By AAMER MADHANI and ZEKE MILLER WASHINGTON©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
26 Comments
obladi
Kevin McCarthy can try to play this game of chicken, but ultimately the US has to pay its debts. Silly that the trip has to be canceled just to prove this point.
dagon
Means testing for welfare is a Republican speciality as they blame everything on 'welfare queens' while the biggest queens are corporate welfare recipients.
It creates more bureaucracy and wastes funds.
The GOP loves this topic under Democratic admins when they raise the debt ceiling 3 times to accommodate Trump corporate tax cuts for the .01 percent.
Both the executive and legislative need to get to work about the mass layoffa happening due to automation.
Yrral
What will happen,banks will collapse, people will lose access to their federal retirement benefits, people will have too assist their elderly parents pay their bill
PTownsend
Kev McCarthy and other backers of the Previous guy's tax cuts for themselves and others among the wealthiest is being shown to be a disaster reasonable people foresaw. Yet still, Kev his fellow Kens and Karens want to continue to bow down to the wealthiest, knowing doing so bings more in campaign contributions, and keeps them employed.
stormcrow
It's a damn shame that these goofball republicans are holding a gun to the head of U.S. government by threatening to shoot it in the head by defaulting. When Trump was president, the debt limit was raised 3 times plus they gave trillions of dollars in needless tax cuts to the super rich. Now that Trump isn't in office anymore, these republicans want to default and flush everything and everybody down the toilet. Smart thinking, guys!
David Brent
The whole "debt ceiling" pantomime continues.
bass4funk
Very true.
Then the Dems should limit welfare entitlements Clinton did to around 6 months, seems appropriate, gives incentives to people to get up off their rears and look for employment.
Ok, so starve business creators, less money, less payroll, less money for training, more layoffs, what could go wrong?
Maybe if small businesses wouldn’t be taxed into oblivion we would see less of automation, but as such, and while these businesses that essentially made America Superpower are people swallowed by corporations and automations pushed by an administration that is hostile to the individual working entrepreneur in the private industry.
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/fed-up-nearly-6-in-10-small-business-owners-say-bidens-economy-could-force-them-to-close-their-doors/
Yrral
They were saying this when they freeloading off stimulus money Bass4
Laguna
Ha. Yeah, that'll save tons.
Two elephants in the room that MUST be addressed if Repubs are serious about the deficit: out-of-control Pentagon spending (at over $800 billion yearly, nearly half of discretionary spending) and Trump tax cuts for the wealthy. But it'll be a cold day in hell when Repubs address those.
deanzaZZR
I can remember when Clinton actually cut the Pentagon budget. The economy was booming. Sadly the Pentagon budget is now three times what it was during Clinton's time.
Peter Neil
The last time the federal budget was balanced was under Clinton.
Peter Neil
Who cares about the theatrics of the debt ceiling, since so much of the debt is held by other countries?
Do you have a debt ceiling?
Saving ever-losing fiat debt is passé. The new economy is debt, debt, debt. Your goal should be to have as much debt as you can when you die.
FrenchFox
He should stay in the US. The US is in really bad shape. Debt crisis, broken borders, mass shootings and American mothers cant find baby formula. Fix America.
TaiwanIsNotChina
This hasn't been a problem in months. You need to update your talking points.
Hercolobus
Of course, after Russia destroyed the Ukrainian Patriot Air Defenses.
TaiwanIsNotChina
@French Fox
"The in-stock rate is near 90%, even higher than pre-recall levels."
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/11/health/formula-hearing-hill/index.html
You need to update your talking points.
Marc Lowe
Biden made the right choice. He can meet with the OZ leader in Hiroshima anyway. It saves time and won't put a strain on Australian police and security details. Also, at his advanced age, travelling all that distance across time zones probably isn't a good idea. It's surprising he is even coming to Japan.
elephant200
America is at a steady decline, the debt ceiling is a time bomb of June or next year or next next year. Once they default they will lost their superpower status forever.
Peter Neil
Naw. It’s just a number and meaningless. The sky is falling thing gets trotted out every time.
bass4funk
Yes, it still is an ongoing problem that the left doesn't want to talk about.
https://19thnews.org/2023/02/weve-failed-mothers-and-kids-so-much-one-year-later-theres-no-end-in-sight-to-the-formula-shortage/
wallace
There seem to be many cry babies.
EFD
Kevin was whining just yesterday. As if to say "Don't you guys know I got 218 votes? You are not going to just buckle in to my demands? The Boss said you would cave....."
Discharge Petition and/or 14th Amendment, Kev.
tora
I see what you did there. We are reading between the lines.
obladi
I did not know that. Funny!
While Clinton was in many ways a bad guy, the general trend since his presidency has been downward. I am pessimistic that we can ever get back to those days where the government kinda worked.
Laguna
For the Repubs to argue against making payments against the national debt is dangerous and disingenuous. Many do not realize that payments on the debt are for money that has already been spent and has nothing to do with future debt (aside from the danger of higher interest rates arising from a default). Defaulting on the debt is like defaulting on one's credit card debt - it will only result in higher interest rates down the line.
If Repubs want to lower debt in future, only two approaches are possible: reduce the budget or raise taxes. Problem is that budget cuts are easy to see so become personal - will it be infrastructure (sorry; that dangerous bridge is gonna hafta do), healthcare, veterans, the military? As for the latter, restoring the Clinton-era tax regime would produce large results, but good luck getting the Repub-dominated House to go along with that.
Forcing Biden to cancel his Asia trip to deal with such tripe is a global embarrassment not lost on such centers as Zhongnanhai and the Kremlin. All thanks to Repubs who should - and likely do - know better.
wallace
Shall I stay, shall I go?