White House: Obama "regrets" 2006 vote against raising the debt ceiling

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Monday that President Obama "regrets" having voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006, and that he "realizes now" how crucial approving raising the limit is to "the health of this economy and the global economy."

Schumer: Holding down debt ceiling plays with fire
Boehner: No chance for "clean" bill on debt limit

The debt ceiling, which is the legal limit on borrowing by the federal government, currently stands at $14.3 trillion. According to projections by the Treasury, the U.S. government is expected to hit that figure by the end of May. If Congress does not approve an increase to the limit, the federal government could default on its bonds for the first time in history, and Social Security and Medicare checks would likely see delays as a result of the government's inability to make payments to agencies.

The White House is urging Congress - and particularly House Republicans, who are threatening to block a vote on the measure - to swiftly approve an increase in the ceiling. Various administration officials have warned that a failure to do so would almost certainly result in economic catastrophe.

In an interview over the weekend, senior White House adviser David Plouffe urged Congress not to play "brinksmanship" with the "full faith and credit of the United States," and Sen. Chuck Schumer, speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," warned that a congressional stalemate on raising the debt ceiling would be "playing with fire."

"Failing to raise the debt ceiling would be Armageddon-like in terms of the economy, on the impact on interest rates, on job creation, on growth," Carney said during his daily press briefing on Monday.

Mr. Obama, however, voted against a similar bill in 2006.

Arguing that "America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership" and that "Americans deserve better," Mr. Obama joined 47 other senators in voting against the bill. (It passed with just 52 votes.)

In his briefing on Monday, Carney emphasized that Mr. Obama had since seen the error of his ways on the importance of increasing the debt limit.

"The president, as David Plouffe said yesterday, regrets that vote and thinks it was a mistake," Carney told reporters. "He realizes now that raising the debt ceiling is so important to the health of this economy that it is not a vote that even when you are protesting an administration's policies you can play around with."

Carney emphasized that the president "has shown that he is committed to deficit reduction, and we do not need to play chicken with our economy by linking the raising of the debt ceiling to anything."

"We should do that right away," he added.

When asked about the statement Mr. Obama made back in 2006 regarding his opinion on the issue, Carney said "when you're in the Senate, you want to make clear your position, if you don't agree with the policies of the administration."

Mr. Obama will deliver a major speech on Wednesday outlining his plans for reducing the deficit.

Carney told reporters on Wednesday that he wanted Obama to have the chance to "speak for himself on Wednesday," but that "[the president] will very clearly lay out his vision for deficit reduction, the need for it to be balanced, the need for it to be bipartisan, the need for it address the long-term drivers of our debt and for everyone to share in the burden of bringing our fiscal house into order."

[bokehbrian]

Mr. Boehner threatens to commit TREASON!

You know I knew it was only a matter of time before the Tea Party and the GOP overplayed their hand. And now we have the Speaker of the House go on national TV and threaten to commit TREASON. He has said that he is willing to do something that he believes will cause grave harm to the United States of America. Worse then that, he has said that unless his demands are met he will knowingly allow disaster to befall America&.Good luck defending this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IiV4YIEfIw

[kneedragon76]

ovomit comits treason ever day he is in the whitehouse... Please you leftist turds know no bounds...

[kneedragon76]

ovomit comits treason ever day he is in the whitehouse... Please you leftist turds know no bounds...

3.5 trillion is ovomits budget. 30 billion is bullsh!T 100 billion is what fiscal conservaitives like the tea party wanted still a drop in the hat with the drunken orgy of spending in the ovomit admisnistration. Boehner just got boned by obama...

[RobAla]

Of course he regrets it. It proves he is a hypocrite. Now that he wants to raise the debt level it now sounds like a good thing. There is no way that we should allow the debt limit to be raised without huge constraints on the federal government that will prevent us from doing this again. The debt ceiling was place for good reason, and it has already been raised far too high.

We actually need a balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution, but would be almost impossible to pass one before we hit the debt limit. We have to address the problem that is causing the US to go into so much debt - outrageously huge federal spending. We must adopt a plan, like Paul Ryan's, which will return the federal government back to sane spending levels and returns the nation back to a balanced budget. Without a plan for this, it is folly to raise the debt limit.

[endurorob_5]

"Carney emphasized that the president "has shown that he is committed to deficit reduction"+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Really? Then why do we have record deficits under his watch?

[gruven13777]

Wake up people.

The problem is the Federal Reserve, the privately owned bank that our government borrows money from. A private group of bankers who are about as "Federal" as Federal Express, Inc. They have so much power, they don't even have to answer to our Congress and can increase or decrease rates and our money supply, WHEN EVER THEY FEEL LIKE IT.

-DEBT- is the only thing that backs our currency, payable to the Federal Reserve (with interest) through their collection vehicle...the IRS.

Remember that term "Taxation without Representation" ???

Well, that's exactly what happens every time some politician crawls to the FED and puts us another TRILLION dollars into debt...because in the end, us and our children are going to end up paying for all that debt through higher taxes and devalued assets.

[kneedragon76]

AMEN - THE RESERVE PUT OVOMIT IN OFFICE AS A PAWN SO THEY COULD MAKE THIS MANCHARIAN MAN CHILD EAT CROW WHILE BAILING ALL THEIR SORRY BUTTS OUT. POOR OVOMIT.

[RAS08]

Raise the limit... So he can spend us into prosperity. What a putz.

[Molly-Pchr]

I was a conservative Republican voter for many years when it meant something. During that time I worked for almost 50 years paying into Soc. Sec. Almost 40 of those years I paid double into Soc. Sec. because I was self-employed. Are all of you other conservatives screaming out there not going to collect your Soc. Sec. when it's time to retire?? I am. The amount over 50 years, is staggering, and at 50 years interest, is a lot of money. I'm not collecting anything that isn't mine. It's MY money, my conservative friends. If you don't want me to collect it in a monthly stipend, my hypocritical friends, fine, then give me all the money that's mine, and I will make it work for me, and I will get by. Gee, at 50 years' interest, if they had done that, I wouldn't even live long enough to collect it at Soc. Sec. monthly pay rates. So I don't know who's worse, the Dems who want to take my money and give it to malingerers or conservatives who want to take it and give it to the Government to keep. And not for nothin', when my husband and I compared, he paid less money into a public pension every year for less years, and his pension is valued at an astronomical amount, and he will get annually 4 times what I will. So stop nickel and diming seniors, and shame on the new conservatism, which is worse than Social programs, taking money that belongs to seniors to let the government keep it. Shame.

[RickChicago1]

The Regime just sent out a talking suit from Treasury Dept. The spokesman said that the Regime needs to borrow AT LEAST another 2 Trillion dollars to get to the end of 2012. That means that we are at 16.3 Trillion dollars. Then we would have to add the cost of ObamaCare. The Congressional Budget Office says that to fully implement ObamaCare will cost 2.4 Trillion dollars. Add that up and we owe 18.7 Trillion dollars in the next few years.

Interest on that much money at 5% comes out to 935 Billion dollars EVERY YEAR. That costs more than the Stimulus.

We are headed towards bankruptcy.
Had enough YET?
If not how much WILL it take??????

[kneedragon76]

THE MORONS ON THE LEFT WILL ALWAYS HAVE BUSH TO BLAME... I BLAME HIM FOR A LOT BUT NOT THIS MESS THIS IS ALL OVOMIT

[LIBBUSTER]

How much more of this hypocrite liar and con man can America afford to take? How much more are going to put on our children and make them pay for the things we did? How much more of the insane Democrats can we support? It is time ,way past time for America to wake up and kick out everyone in Washington that is not FISCAL conservative and social moderate. Not by their words but rather by their deeds.

[RickChicago1]

Here is the key to his "popularity"

America is 13% African American. (They vote 98% for him)
Liberals amount to 19% according to Gallop Polling.
There are around 8% unionized Government workers.

That comes to 40%
Rasmussen has him at 42%
If you are not black or a union thug or a Liberal you have figured this Socialist out. Those who stopped thinking or are getting cash out of the deal will take longer.

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