While the decision to raise the debt ceiling in an effort to ward off a government default was finally passed in both the House and Senate this afternoon by a vote of 74-26 (a total of 60 votes was needed), the contents of 74 page legislation has raised a lot of questions.
During yesterday's Senate and House last ditch effort to get the bill passed, minority speaker Nancy Pelosi kept asking law makers on the House floor "why are we here"? .
"We have come here to make the future better for future generations".
The delay has never happened quite like this before, neither has the opposition over the its contents been so heavily scrutinized, even by perhaps the biggest supporter of the Obama administration, Nancy Pelosi, who admitted she has been on the fence, but pleaded for law makers to pass the debt ceiling legislation, even if they were "on the fence", just as she was.
There was no shortage of opinion on the proposed legislation. Congressman Charles Rangel (D_NY) who faced congressional ethics violations last year, said the legislation has never been so "polarizing". Rangel said everyone is going to have to make sacrifices, "but I don't see any sacrifices."
"Maybe if you’ve become wealthy you’d make some small sacrifice, or if you're gotten preferential treatment in a tax code." Rangel implied Americans in that category act like they're now too good to give back to the least of Americans.
Like it or not, sacrifice or not, the bill puts the issue of US debt, to the tune of 3 trillion dollars, on the back burner for at least another two years.
Said Vice President Biden on the legislation, "It was used as a means of language so that we would not default on our debts. One overwhelming feature is it cannot come up again until 2013. We have to get this out of the way to get to growing the economy."
The measure would reduce the federal budget deficit by $2.1 trillion over a 10-year period.
Still, some lawmakers say they would have like to have the opportunity to review the bill, given earlier this week, before having to vote on it.
"It buys more time", said Congressman Mo Brookes (R-AL), but it’s kicking the can down the road for 2 more years. After that we’ll right back in the same situation. Brookes, who voted no on the legislation, wrote in a summary that the bill is bad for America, bad political process, bad for national defense, and fails to satisfactorily decrease the risk of an American credit rating downgrade. You can see the full summary here.
The bill was signed before the heavily proposed August 2nd date when Americans were told if the bill was not passed millions of Americans would not receive Social Security benefits and the military personnel would not be paid.
"The August 2nd date to get the debt ceiling raised was a fictional date", said Brookes. "The US would have perhaps had a delay in payment, but the government would have never defaulted."
Speaking to reporters this afternoon in the Rose Garden, President Obama said the passing of the bill is "just the beginning".
"The two parties must work on a larger plan for a balanced approached to protect health care, reform tax codes so the wealthy pay their fair share, and rid subsidies to large corporations like oil companies", said the president. "We can’t make it tougher for kids to go to college, everyone is going to have to chip in. That’s the principle I’ll be fighting for. New jobs, higher wages, It’s not just about cutting spending, we’re going to have to do more than that".
See full the president's full remarks here.
The Republican-controlled U.S. House approved the plan on Monday by a vote of 269-161. See full the president's full remarks here.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was present on the floor to provide her vote. Giffords is still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head she sustained during an event for her constituents seven months ago, but said it was vital that she take part to provide her vote.
The president signed the bill into law today.
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Explaining the Bill/Statement by Press Secretary Jay Carney:
"S. 365, the “Budget Control Act of 2011,” which provides for authority to increase the public debt limit by between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion; establishes discretionary spending limits for FYs 2012-2021; requires the House and Senate to each vote on passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution; and establishes a congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction".
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