It currently appears that the most likely resolution to the debt ceiling situation will be the use of the Mitch McConnell-Harry Reid back up plan. This plan will probably include some form of the Catfood Commission II. A bipartisan commission that would work in secret to come up with package that would be fast tracked through Congress. This means the bill wouldn’t go through the proper committees and couldn’t be amended or filibustered.

America’s minimally democratic system still provides the electorate with too much power to hold their representatives accountable. The representatives thus need to isolate odious legislation from the gaze of those who will be adversely affected by it.

Secret government — a prelude to dictatorship?

And the undemocratic nature of the proposed process – as already disgracefully seen, on this issue alone, in the closed-door Bowles/Simpson group, the Gang of Six group, the Biden-led group, and now the President-led group, all while the established, “bipartisan” and public Senate Budget Committee stood idle – should be held against any Member of Congress who endorses such a Commission and the resulting removal of their power to responsibly do their job as an elected federal legislator.

The fact that there are two dominant Parties to which Members of Congress belong does not mean that the American people gave 50/50 power to the Republican and Democratic Parties in the Senate, or in the House, although that’s what both Parties, or at least Party leadership, and the President (who has undone the balance of Congressional power that the voters created, by inserting himself into and manipulating the process), seem to be pretending.

Instead, a majority of Senators are members of the Democratic Party, just as a majority of Representatives are members of the Republican Party, and the “negotiations” that should have started taking place months ago are those between the members of the relevant, experienced budget and finance committees of jurisdiction of both houses – in conference committee under established (and public) procedures – with the goal of crafting a new federal budget that blends the best of the House Budget and a yet-to-be-proposed Senate Budget, and results in a final product that needs no signature from the President to go into effect.

This can’t be said enough:

Budget Shell Games Are Contrary to Law

By [Law Professor, not Booz Allen Spy] Michael W McConnell

July 14, 2011

After sending up a budget in February that would only add to government spending and deficits, President Obama has now come around to the view that “it is a moral imperative to tackle our debt and deficits in a serious way.” Both sides have to make sacrifices, he says. It is time to “eat our peas.” The president’s evident purpose is to put the blame on Republicans for failing to come to an agreement.

But the absence of any written budgetary documents and the closed-door nature of the negotiating sessions make it impossible to tell which side is being “serious” and which side is being intransigent. Instead of specific proposals, scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and open to examination by press and public, we get vague generalities about “trillions” of dollars in supposed savings based on who-knows-what changes in policy.

It is insane to think that tax and spending proposals of this complexity can be negotiated at this level of generality and put into statutory language in a matter of weeks. Didn’t the health-care fiasco teach us anything about the importance of transparent and responsible legislative process?

Wise or foolish, this budgetary game of chicken is contrary to law. In 1974, Congress enacted the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, which sets specific deadlines and procedures for raising revenue, setting spending priorities, and adjusting the debt limit–all in the sunshine of public scrutiny, with objective evaluation of all plans by the CBO.

[...]

The House of Representatives complied with the law, passing a budget that would reduce spending by an estimated $5.8 trillion over 10 years (according to the CBO). The Senate has not passed a budget. In fact, the Senate has not passed a budget since 2009.

This defiance of the Budget Act is responsible for the current blamefest in Washington. The law was intended to bring transparency and timeliness to debates over taxing and spending. All proposals are public, and all are scored by the CBO according to the same metric. This makes it difficult for politicians to shift blame. This year, without a genuine presidential budget, or any Senate budget, the negotiations are shrouded in fog. The president may tell press conferences that he proposed $3 trillion in spending reductions, but there is no way to know what that means without a budget.

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Fascist Compromise Sought in Debt-Ceiling Drama.

We’ll really see who’s working for Old Man Wall Street who is now screaming at the top of his lungs for the lifting of the debt ceiling and for enforced austerity measures, or else Armageddon buddy!
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/18800

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Fast tracked bipartisan commissions are very popular with some elected officials because they are purposely designed to destroy basic democratic accountability.

Starting at the top.

You are a man/woman of few words :-)

Well, this is the way Obama keeps getting around Congress on the thorny issues, isn’t it? It’s sure how we got that mess of a “healthcare reform” Gang of Six style. now wonder my senator is going to retire; he probably made a bundle off selling US out to Wellpoint.

With a Democratic party infiltrated by Republicans, who wear Democratic masks, a bipartisan commission with a required majority vote, is no different than a Republican commission. The result will be the same, cutting those “lesser people” programs and lowering taxes for the rich. At least, a two thirds majority should be required, so the payoff of just one Democratic member is not all that is needed.

Jon, I cannot express how angry this makes me:

“If voters try to punish the two parties equally the net effect on who wins will be nothing.”

They do not represent “us”. They have lost their ‘right’ to govern us. I will not listen to them anymore.

why is nobody liveblogging this incredible, devastating Murdoch appearance this morning?

i’m following it on D Now stream

omg, both pere et fils, coming off HORRIBLY .. esp daddy Satan

because it was only this or nothing

Sounds kinda like our “elections” which include “debates” where non-Demopublicans can’t participate.

Over at Daily KOS there is an excellent new diary on the history of the Catfood Commission effort. I had not realized that, for example, the effort began in almost a year before Obama took office:

It originated with Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg in 2008. Their purpose was to cut entitlement programs. In May of 2008 they held this event at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars …

From the link:

Did the president know that he would not be able to get his “grand bargain” cuts through Congress all along but did believe that he could finally get the Kent-Conrad Catfood Commission with teeth (fast tracked through Congress, no amendments, no filibusters) under the threat of the Shock Doctrine debt ceiling global economic meltdown?

At a minimum, it was certainly HIS fall back position.

Mr. O is playing multi-dimensional chess. Unfortunately he just isn’t into the welfare of regular working middle class Americans.

Hi powwow. Thanks for that reference. It’s excellent.

“The program has a $2.6 trillion surplus that will enable every American to receive full benefits for the next 25 years.”

This is a laugher. We still don’t know what’s in the ACA or Dodd-Frank. We have a President that got an award for transparency… in a secret ceremony. We have more secrets today than under Bush.

Blame who? This is a repeat comment, from the other Post about CFII. As you notice the Village Stenographers repeat everything their corporate masters want, endlessly….including defying the Bases and defying Democracy.

But you cannot say “Loot Social Security” without saying “Barack Obama”. And you left out Baracks’s Significant Other, Peety Peterson.

We can blame the R’s. But it is President Loot Social Security who always reaches out to Republicans for Bipartisanshit. Obama actually gives credibilty to a drunken lush such as Boner. Obama validates Teabaggers by negotiating with the corporate baggers at every opportunity.

The Grand Betrtayal is August 2. Obama will beg Boner, “Please steal Social Security while we can!”.

Yes to all you said, I’m sad to say.

Villains, cheap crooks, nasty sh*ts one & all.

One more thing I’m a bit concerned about; they have a model that Boehner’s House used this session, whereby they passed with voice votes.

HR 1079, Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2011 introduced by John MIca of FL.

3/15/2011 Introduced in House
3/29/2011 Reported by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. H. Rept. 112-41, Part I.
3/29/2011 Committee on Ways and Means discharged.
3/29/2011 Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.
3/29/2011 Passed/agreed to in Senate: Received in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
3/30/2011 Presented to President.
3/31/2011 Signed by President.
3/31/2011 Became Public Law No: 112-007 [Text, PDF]

This was all during the March/April “Government Shutdown” crisis and allowed the Republicans to keep their fingerprints off off $2.6 Billion in spending and a nominal tax increase on aviation fuel.

Notice how odd that there are no amendments in the Senate. Rand Paul bleated about it for a bit on the floor, but withheld objection.

I think they might use this method for whatever Grand Bargain.

Bill Clinton strongly endorses the 14th amendment approach…Duh.

Keith is live on current TV covering the hearings.

I don’t really understand the lack of interest here. only Attaturk has paid any attention to this extremely important development at all.
I mean this is a media outlet and all media has been affected by these criminals

In 1974, Congress enacted the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act

You make a very powerful and important point here. We have lost a lot of democracy and the simple rational moral processes of our constitutional institutions since about 1980. The president has told people that he thinks that Reagan came to put a stop to that era of the “60′s and 70′s” when government got out of control. And he sees himself as Reagan’s heir and the fulfillment of his vision.

I lived through that period and recall that for all the turbulence it was a time of hope and change (REAL hope and change, not the fake kind we got from Mr Obama.) There was tremendous progress in many areas of law and society. There was also a movement to democratize the congress and the Democratic party, taking power from the bosses and the racists. I think that this was the breaking point. Symbolically, the power of people like Dick Dailey, Tip O’Neil and Richard Russel was broken. And they were furious and vowed to avenge their loss and destroy all that had been don against their will. I recall George Mitchell and Tom Foley (remember that sad soul) arriving in Little Rock to instruct the newly elected Clinton on how things ran in Washington and making sure that he conformed to their reality.

Then Reagan came, and represented the forces of reaction against the liberalism and modernism. And they began to systematically undermine, mock and deny everything that had been done in the 1970′s and prevented all that might have been done.

It is no accident that the working class family wage reached a peak in the 1970′s and has gone down ever since. The factories closed and went overseas. All the pressure for energy conservation was dissipated and we went back to big cars and high speed limits. And wars. No peace dividend was allowed to come into existence, no end to useless colonial bleeding wars. No conservation of electricity. And less and less open rational politics and decision making. And we created the first generation that will not do better than their fathers and mothers. Such a powerful legacy. They killed the ideal of America as they distracted the people with their war mongering rhetoric.

In the democrat party there was a firm, powerful process to disclaim and abandon whatever advances had been made. Clinton was the tool for repudiating welfare, which had been firmly tied to racial prejudice and used as an issue against the liberals, and for giving the corporate interests all they wanted in “free trade agreements” and also deregulation getting rid of those “depression era” restrictions on risks for banks (Carter started the deregulation of Savings and Loans, and how well did that turn out?)

Now Obama is finishing off the process. There is no more fitting symbol of his role in this tawdry melodrama than the installation of Dick Dailey’s son as the president’s right hand man. They have set back the clock and recaptured the party from the liberals, tree huggers and peacenicks. I hope they enjoy it.

Anybody who votes for a Democrat or a Republican is a traitor and a stupid fuck. Which side are you on. Will you stand with your family and friends or with your corporate masters?

Rubarbie,and acorn son keep refering the matter to the police…who
THEY HAVE COMPLETELY BRIBED
teeheeeteeheeeteeehee

So, harking back to the article about Grijalva et al and the congressional progressive caucus…

(or any other group of pols for that matter, but the cpc happened to be the subject of that article)

… what will happen to Grijalva et al when they vote for a debt limit raise that has attached this catfood commission and its predetermined “findings” of the need to cut and gut the social safety nets?

Will they be punished for such fecklessness or will we be screamed at as “haters” for wanting to punish the cpc for enabling the catfood commission?

Will we be told to “wait and see what the commission decides…” because the cpc might crap rainbows and somehow make the catfood commission do the right thing instead of doing what Obama desires?

Or will we be told that we can only punish the cpc after they vote for the cut’n'gut commission… when it will have been too fucking late to change it for months and the cpc members can retire (or will have already retired) with their bribes both overt and covert?

This is it… the chance for the cpc to do something besides cave… so what will they actually do?

And what should we do to them in return for the choice they are about to make?

My position: If they vote for the “grand compromise” then they deserve to lose. I really don’t care what excuses they give.

You gotta have the Audacity of Hope

Obama’08:
* Open Up Government to its Citizens:
The Bush Administration has been one of the most secretive, closed administrations in American history. Our nation’s progress has been stifled by a system corrupted by millions of lobbying dollars contributed to political campaigns, the revolving door between government and industry, and privileged access to inside information—all of which have led to policies that favor the few against the public interest. An Obama presidency will use cutting-edge technologies to reverse this dynamic, creating a new level of transparency, accountability and participation for America’s citizens. Technology-enabled citizen participation has already produced ideas driving Obama’s campaign and its vision for how technology can help connect government to its citizens and engage citizens in a democracy. Barack Obama will use the most current technological tools available to make government less beholden to special interest groups and lobbyists and promote citizen participation in government decision-making. Obama will integrate citizens into the actual business of government by:
–Making government data available online in universally accessible formats to allow citizens to make use of that data to comment, derive value, and take action in their own communities.
–Establishing pilot programs to open up government decision-making and involve the public in the work of agencies, not simply by soliciting opinions, but by tapping into the vast and distributed expertise of the American citizenry to help government make more informed decisions.
–Requiring his appointees who lead Executive Branch departments and rulemaking agencies to conduct the significant business of the agency in public, so that any citizen can watch a live feed on the Internet as the agencies debate and deliberate the issues that affect American society.
–Restoring the basic principle that government decisions should be based on the best-available,
scientifically-valid evidence and not on the ideological predispositions of agency officials.
–Lifting the veil from secret deals in Washington with a web site, a search engine, and other web tools that enable citizens easily to track online federal grants, contracts, earmarks, and lobbyist contacts with government officials. etc.

Carter and Clinton get smeared for what action?

Carter passed the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act, as banks were dying under the interest rate controls in an inflationary environment, that gave the Federal Reserve greater control over non-member banks – granted Reagan appointed Greenspan who ended on such Federal Reserve oversight, but he did not have to end it. The law provided the following

It forced all banks to abide by the Fed’s rules.
It allowed banks to merge.
It removed the power of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors under the Glass–Steagall Act and Regulation Q to set the interest rates of savings accounts.
It raised the deposit insurance of US banks and credit unions from $40,000 to $100,000.
It allowed credit unions and savings and loans to offer checkable deposits.
Allowed institutions to charge any interest rates they choose.[1][2]
Required banks be charged Fed Float for use of funds received before clearing between depository institutions.

And then Clinton does a work requirement and that is war on welfare, indeed on Blacks – it is like we are back doing the Obama campaign against Hillary. If you really believe what almost all call a great success that changed attitudes toward work in a segment that was drowning was a bad thing, nah – you just bought the Obama lies. The Glass- Steagal, a bill with no power over investment banks and their derivatives that eventually caused the economy meltdown, those banks being under the regulatory control of Greenspan who again refused to regulate, is modified so as to allow Travelers Ins and Citi Bank to merge, and Obama calls this the start of the downturn – and despite Krugman saying Obama lies about the G-S effect, you buy it?

The Obama primary campaign was special.

Over at Daily KOS there is an excellent new diary on the history of the Catfood Commission effort. I had not realized that, for example, the effort began in almost a year before Obama took office:

It originated with Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg in 2008. Their purpose was to cut entitlement programs. In May of 2008 they held this event at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars …

Is that the same Judd Gregg Obammie wanted for his Commerce Secretarty. The one who strung him along a bit then said “no thanks”? Well, no wonter Barry-0 wanted him! A man after his own heart.

Totally agreed. They looked terrible from the getgo. Don’t know who the young lady behind them is (a communications/pr assistant???) but her body language had “disaster” written all over it … not that one needed that to see what was happening at the table. I thought Rupert might collapse or fall asleep? It will be covered one way or another. The brits do have a way of taking all the drama out of the proceedings. I liked the very sharp female legislator who wound up the questioning.

Yup!!! LOLz. And it’s going to take a long time to unravel this mess. Foot-dragging got them this far and they seem to have perfected it as a fine art. Amazing.

Believe what you want. What you call a great success, I call a betrayal and a disaster. All I have for evidence is our present situation.

Oh, my. That woman sitting behind Rupert is his wife! I *really* didn’t want to know this much about his man ……..

I keep promoting for the day when NONE OF THE ABOVE gets the majority of votes in our elections.