John Boehner accuses Democrats of "hysteria"

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.

/ CBS

House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that the Democratic response to his insistence Monday that a vote to increase the debt limit must be coupled with cuts in spending has amounted to "hysteria."

"Earlier this week, I again made clear that there would be no debt increase without meaningful spending cuts and budget reforms," he said. "As I said on Monday, the spending cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in the debt limit."

"Clearly we struck a nerve," continued the Ohio Republican. "And the response from the White House, and from Democrats, and the left has been panic and hysteria."

The $14.3 trillion debt limit, which Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner estimates will be exceeded August 2, was expected to be raised by $2 trillion - which would mean that Boehner wants more than $2 trillion in cuts as part of a vote to raise it. A Boehner aide tells CBS News, however, that the debt limit could be increased by a smaller amount. $2 trillion is the Treasury Department's estimate for what would cover the United States through the next election.

Boehner's Monday speech, which included assertions contradicted by market indicators and government reports, was an attempt to lay out the parameters for the debate over the debt ceiling. While Democrats want a "clean" vote to raise the debt ceiling, Republicans insist on coupling the unpopular vote with spending cuts. 

Democrats have suggested that not raising the debt ceiling would be catastrophic. It could mean increased interest rates, the shutdown of much of the government, and delays in Social Security and Medicare checks tied to the government's inability to make payments to agencies. Even simply approaching the August 2 deadline without increasing the ceiling could significantly rattle markets.

Boehner has competing pressures in dealing with the issue. Prominent Wall Street players, many of them significant Republican donors, want to see the debt limit raised as soon as possible. But a number of fiscally-conservative House Republicans, many of them freshmen, are refusing to vote to increase the ceiling without significant spending cuts and other concessions.

Lawmakers have long played politics with the debt ceiling vote - President Obama, for example, voted against raising the ceiling when he was a senator.

"We are determined to cut spending and change the way Washington spends the American taxpayer's dollar," Boehner said Thursday. "The American people have overwhelmingly rejected the idea of giving the president a blank check to increase the debt limit - and Republicans are listening to the American people."

[reluctantzealot]

Obama says the country needs "incentives" to force them to control the deficit....

The biggest incentive is already in place... It's called the debt ceiling.

let's see how motivated obama is.....


Cut his funds OFF.

[user000049586849302948603]

Is this the same Boner who get weepy every time he goes of his meds? ...calling Democrats hysterical!?

Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot.

[RobAla]

"Earlier this week, I again made clear that there would be no debt increase without meaningful spending cuts and budget reforms," he said. "As I said on Monday, the spending cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in the debt limit."

How can this not make sense to Democrats? The question we should ask is this "Why would Democrats be against responsible spending cuts and budget reforms, seeing that we are $14 trillion in the hole and will add another $1.65 trillion to it this year?"

Both the CBO and President Obama's Deficit Commission state that what we are doing is unsustainable. The GAO released a report stating that the federal government is wasting $100s of billions in duplicate programs. So, why would Democrats be against responsible spending? Either they understand what is going to happen to the country and are totally irresponsible (I want my stuff now and the heck with the future), they are stupid and can not see where the massive over spending is taking the country,or they are intentionally driving the country toward bankruptcy (so once the nation collapses, they can "remake" it into another form of government).

Whatever the case may be, they are absolutely wrong and they are hurting the nation. The Democrat party has turned it's leadership over to radical extremists, and I can no longer bring myself to vote for them - as long as this is the case.

[user000049586849302948603]

"RobAla" is a "lifelong Democrat" who just happens to hate Obama (but not because he's a darkie; honest!) and still wants to see his birth certificate. (big eyes roll)

[realist51]

118 billion for two wars Saddam is dead and so is bin laud en, yet we need this money for what? this is 1/3 of defense/offensive military spending. this was part of Bin laud ens plan to run the nation into bankruptcy with his terrorist attacks and it seems to have worked on the republicans.
Bohner is an out right liar. Note his quote of listening to the people, NOT! NOT listening about eliminating big business subsides,NOT listening about killing medicare, NOT listening about increasing the tax rates on the wealthy, NOT listening about ending the wars in the middle east(they can do this by defunding the war in the house which was done to push Nixon into ending Vietnam)See they just don't listen and don't do anything for the betterment of America.

[user000049586849302948603]

If we end up eliminating Medicare and removing the social safety net for our most vulnerable citizens while keeping tax cuts for the ultra-rich and corporate subsidies for big oil and other corporate welfare give-aways, people are going to notice and it's not going to reflect very favorably on RepubliCons.

[RobAla]

Paul Ryan's budget saves Medicare, instead of allowing it to go bankrupt. Some Medicare is better than no Medicare.

[retm-w]

ryans plan doesn't save medicare, it just shifts the burden to the seniors. The voucher will be a pittence of the cost private insurance will charge seniors, even for minimum coverage.

[nearl451]

I know, hysteria......but did he cry about it being hysteria?

Nothing breaks my heart more than a grown man getting weepy about hysteria.

[simpleconservative]

I did not observe a single tear! The weeping was on the left side of the aisle!

[simpleconservative]

The comments on this board are near hysteria. The fact is that a good executive who is denied a loan prioritizes essential payments and cuts expenses in the variable expense category. The federal government has more than 2 million employees of which 500,000 would never be missed if they were layed off.The idea that we automatically default on our debts is ludicrous unless we have such an incompetent chief executive who has never run anything before that he has no clue what to do in the case of a credit denial !

[reluctantzealot]

Correct

[sjc_1]

Not making bond payments IS a pretty big deal. I do not know about hysterical, but if we default because the Republicans refuse to bring in more revenue, it will be on their heads.

[reluctantzealot]

Don't spend more money and you won't default on anything. If the democrats can't even grasp that simple concept then they are bigger idiots than imagined.

Let's simplify it for you. You are spending $100 more a month than you earn, you have to pay your house payment so you keep borrowing more more to make the payment. Suddenly the bank says, "NO, not going to keep loaning you money when you spend more than you earn"...what do YOU do? Keep spending until they take your house, or cut your spending and start paying down on your loan. Most democrats take forclosure.... stupid people.

[sjc_1]

We can not close the deficits through cuts only, that is like saying we can drill our way to energy independence, it is delusional nonsense.

[34sender]

Funny that Boehner thinks this is hysteria.

What did he think the push to crater the ACA was -- with the death panels and killing grandma and socialism socialism oh no! ... did he think that was rational?

This guy has a lot of nerve, but no sense. And he knows the debt ceiling has to be raised. He also knows the debt ceiling has nothing to do with spending... but only with servicing CURRENT debt (you know like what he and his GOP buddies put on the credit card in the last 30 years!!!)

[retm-w]

Like the ryan budget isn't hysteria.

[noloyalisti]

There really is no excuse for being or supporting a Repoublicon. They have not done one good thing for America in at least 30 years. They have become a bunch of pyschobabbling, radical extremists who are pushing socialism on all of us. Socialism, entitlements and corporate welfare for their giant corporate masters and the filthy evil rich who run them. It's really that simple.

[lexingtonlady]

The GOP has one huge problem if Wall Street is suggesting they knock this off. These politicians stand to blow our AAA rating with this game.