And Gingrich says the same. Not as good as it sounds, though.
Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker who went to war in the 1990s with President Bill Clinton on budget issues, forcing two shutdowns of government operations, is cautioning Republicans not to create yet another crisis related to the debt limit.
<snip>
"The fact is the Republicans have two much better arenas in which to fight over spending," Gingrich said last week on "CBS This Morning." "They have a continuing resolution, which funds government, which comes up at the end of March. And they have the sequester, which automatically cuts spending unless it's dealt with. And those two fronts they can fight and they have much less resistance from the average American, and it's much harder for the president to oppose them."
The last time Republicans attempted to force spending cuts by holding a vote on raising the debt ceiling hostage was August 2011 and the confrontation led ratings agencies to lower the U.S. credit rating, making it more expensive for the government to borrow money. Fitch already has warned it will reduce the U.S. credit rating if there is another protracted struggle this time around.
Congress has voted to raise the debt ceiling more than 100 times since 1940 -- 18 of them under President Ronald Reagan -- in what had become a routine vote.
Read more:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/01/20/Debt-ceiling-Theres-no-upside-for-Republicans-if-they-hold-debt-ceiling-hostage/UPI-62581358674200/#ixzz2IVpinw4EYou remember Gregg, right? He is the Republican Obama chose to head Commerce, right about the time he chose Republican turned Indie Geithner to head Treasury and Republican Gates to continue heading Defense.
Gregg refused, so Obama chose instead the wealthy Gary Locke.
In 1996, Locke won the Democratic primary and general election for Governor of Washington, becoming the first Chinese-American Governor in United States history. His political committee was fined $2,500 by regulators in 1997 after admitting to state campaign finance law violations during his successful campaign.<7>
Locke faced criticism from fellow Democrats for embracing the Republican Party's "no-new-taxes" approach to dealing with Washington's budget woes during and after the 2001 economic turmoil. Among his spending-reduction proposals were laying off thousands of state employees; reducing health coverage; freezing most state employees' pay; and cutting funding for nursing homes and programs for the developmentally disabled. In his final budget, Locke suspended two voter-passed, pro-school initiatives and cut state education funding. Supported by the state's political left, former Washington Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge announced his plans to challenge Locke in the 2004 Democratic primary, but Talmadge ended his campaign early for health reasons; Locke won re-election in 2000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_LockeWhile Secretary, Locke received many death threats while in office and resigned, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
His predecessor was acting Secretary Rebecca Blank. She also succeeded him after his resignation. Then, the President appointed John Bryson to head Commerce.
Bryson was involved in two hit and run crashes that were investigated as felonies, but were later attributed to seizures Bryson supposedly had had while driving. He took a medical leave. Again, Undersecretary Blank was appointed as Acting Secretary, a position she currently holds, Bryson having resigned, pending an appointment by the President of Bryson's replacement.
Neither Locke nor Bryson are slouches, but simply comparing the three c.V.'s on the basis of who was most qualified to run Commerce, I would have nominated Blank from the jump.
Undersecretary Blank's c.v., via wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_BlankObama has gotten heat for the prominence of white men in his cabinet and nominees. I am sure that heat will enter into his considerations before he nominates anyone else. I wonder if that means Ms. Blank might finally get nominated?
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