House GOP’s First Priority: A Meaningless Rebuke Of Obama!

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Houser Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)
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For their first legislative act of 2012, House Republicans plan on delivering a symbolic rebuke to President Obama on Wednesday for raising the federal debt limit, which the August 2 law permits them to do. The GOP resolution is expected to pass the chamber, but no matter the outcome, it won’t threaten the ability of the U.S. government to meet its obligations either at home or abroad.

After a grueling battle last summer, Congress passed with strong bipartisan support a three-stage increase in the federal credit limit totaling $2.4 trillion. The first $400 billion took effect right away; the second $500 billion came a month later, and the final $1.2 trillion was requested by President Obama last week.

A provision in the law, placed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), allows Congress to vote to disapprove of the phased increases — a transparent effort to embarrass the president and deride him for the $15.2 trillion national debt. It won’t amount to anything because even if the Senate passes it, which it likely won’t, Obama can veto it and go on about the business of governing.

“Unfortunately, the only thing we have on this week’s agenda is a charade,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters Tuesday. “An abdication of responsibility.”

Although the GOP took it to an extreme last summer, playing politics with the debt ceiling has been a bipartisan exercise. Republicans love to point out that even Barack Obama, as a U.S. senator, voted against increasing the debt limit in 2006 and used the occasion to slam Washington for a “failure of leadership” — a move he has since admitted was a mistake.

Often lost in debt limit debates is the fact that raising the ceiling does not actually increase spending; it merely permits the U.S. government to pay its bills for money that Congress has already spent.

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