After today's negotiations with Congressional leaders produced no deal, John Boehner intends to advance his own unilateral deal. Earlier I reported this Politico article,
Congressional Leaders Meet On Debt-Ceiling, Reid and Pelosi Will Meet Obama At 6:00pm ABC "No Deal"
CNN reported that Pelosi and Reid are meeting with the President now.
The report on our Rec board, that the President would speak at 6:00pm were incorrect. CNN reports no knowledge of any plans for the President to speak. The original report was that Pelosi and Reid would meet with Obama at 6:00pm, as reported above, which they are doing now.
Now Lory Montgomery, of the Washington Post reports, Boehner presses ahead with unilateral debt plan
Hours before Asian financial markets were set to open Sunday evening, talks over the federal debt limit were at a standstill, and House and Senate leaders were threatening to pursue two different approaches to averting a government default in a messy legislative showdown.
In a conference call with House Republicans, Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said he would press ahead with a two-stage strategy that would give the Treasury only about $1 trillion in additional borrowing authority, forcing another debt-limit battle early next year with the political parties in the heat of the 2012 presidential campaign.
“If we stick together, we can win this for the American people,” Boehner told his troops, participants said.
Boehner promoted that strategy on Fox News Sunday, telling host Chris Wallace that “there’s going to be a two-stage process. It’s not physically possible to do all of this in one step.” In a barbed aside, he added: “I know the president’s worried about his next election. But my God, shouldn’t we be worried about the country?”
The aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been publicly released, said the package would include up to $1.2 trillion in cuts to government agencies, including the Pentagon. It would not include tax increases, the aide said, but could include cuts to entitlement programs. It is also likely to rely heavily on savings from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a huge chunk of potential savings that House Republicans included in the budget blueprint they approved this spring.
Counting money not spent on a war that the nation was already planning to end is widely viewed as an budget gimmick, and House GOP leaders have been reluctant to count it in debt-reduction plans as part of the debt-limit debate. But Democratic sources said it may look more attractive as the clock ticks down to a potential default on Aug. 2.
CNN is reporting that Reid and Pelosi are meeting with President Obama now, perhaps, to see if they could shift the initiative to the Senate.
CNN also says they know of no planned statement from the President.
3:22 PM PT: http://online.wsj.com/...
Reid Working on Backup Plan to Lift Ceiling, Cut Spending
By COREY BOLES And CAROL E. LEE
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid is working on a backup plan to increase the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion and cut spending by the same amount in the event there is no further progress in talks between Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, a Senate Democratic aide said Sunday.
The plan would have no new tax increases, the aide said.
The $2.5 trillion increase in the debt limit would be enough to support federal spending through 2012, avoiding the need to revisit the issue next year.
The Senate Democratic leader could brief some members of his caucus on the plan later Sunday evening, the aide said. More details of what would constitute the spending reductions would not be available until after that briefing occurred.
If Mr. Reid moved forward with the plan, it would be a clear signal that long-running negotiations between Democrats and Republicans had proved unsuccessful. Senate Democrats would hope to move the proposal through the Senate and then hand it the Republican-controlled House as their solution to the need to increase the debt ceiling.
It isn't clear whether a Reid plan would win support from Senate Republicans. At least a handful of GOP senators would have to vote for it in order for the Senate to approve it.
3:38 PM PT: NPR is reporting an Associated Press report < a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/07/24/138661282/boehner-calls-on-gop-to-get-behind-new-measure">Boehner Calls On GOP To Get Behind 'New Measure'
With bipartisan debt-limit talks deadlocked, House Republicans and Senate Democrats readied rival emergency fallback plans Sunday in hopes of reassuring world financial markets the U.S. government will avoid an unprecedented default.
In a conference call, Speaker John Boehner summoned his conservative rank and file to swing behind a "new measure" that could clear both houses of Congress.
"It won't be 'Cut, Cap and Balance' as we passed it," he said, referring to a measure — killed in the Senate on Friday — that would have required spending cuts of an estimated $6 trillion as well as congressional approval of a constitutional balanced budget amendment for ratification by the states.
Republican officials said Boehner envisioned an increase in the nation's debt limit by $1 trillion and slightly more than that in federal spending cuts, with the promise of additional progress on both sides of the ledger if Congress could agree.
Democratic officials said Reid was at work on legislation to raise the government's debt limit by $2.4 trillion — enough to assure no recurrence of the current crisis until 2013 — and reduce spending by slightly more.
They said that plan envisioned no higher taxes.
Interviewed on Fox, Boehner said, "I would prefer to have a bipartisan approach to solve this problem. If that is not possible, I and my Republican colleagues in the House are prepared to move on our own."
3:51 PM PT: Spot Price of Gold 650pm EST
4:05 PM PT: Phil recommends we call this a LIVE BLOG. Which is fine with me.
Or OPEN THREAD. Go for it. I've just been trying to put up news as it breaks.
5:11 PM PT: Nothing exceptually dramtic on the Asian stock markets so far, that I see.
http://af.reuters.com/...
US STOCKS-Futures slump as debt talks result in no deal
Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:30pm GMT
* Government fails to come to debt agreement, futures sink
* Lack of deal seen overshadowing corporate earnings
* Futures down: Dow 111 pts, S&P 11.1 pts, Nasdaq 28.5 pts
*Futures opened more than 1 percent lower, though the Dow
and S&P modestly pared losses. The initial reaction as Asian
financial markets opened was mild with the euro gaining against
the dollar in early trading. The dollar fell to a four-month
low against the Japanese yen.
"The longer we go without a deal, the more you're going to
see concerns on the negative side," said Alan Lancz, president
of Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc, an investment advisory firm
based in Toledo, Ohio.
"I don't think the initial reaction was overdone at all.
This has to get behind us before the market can trend higher."S&P 500 futures fell 11.1 points and were below fair
value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account
interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the
contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures sank 111
points and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 28.5 points.
Though time remains for a deal to be struck, the lack of an
agreement was expected to be the primary driver for stocks this
week.
5:46 PM PT: Nikea down about 3/4 of a percent
Korea down about a percent.
5:55 PM PT: http://www.reuters.com/...
Nikkei futures fall 0.6 percent after no U.S. debt deal
Futures slump as debt talks result in no deal
7:35pm EDT
RPT-FOREX-US dollar dips as debt deadlock weighs
6:25pm EDT
US STOCKS-Futures fall 1.0 percent, debt talks produce no deal
6:09pm EDT
TOKYO, July 25 | Sun Jul 24, 2011 8:12pm EDT
TOKYO, July 25 (Reuters) - Nikkei stock futures in Osaka JNIc1 fell 0.6 percent in early trade on Monday after U.S. policymakers failed to reach a deal on raising the debt ceiling over the weekend.
Nikkei futures fell to 10,080 from Friday's close of 10,140. In the cash market, the Nikkei average also fell about 0.6 percent in early trade. (Reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
7:02 PM PT: http://online.wsj.com/...
Asian Shares Fall Amid Concerns Over Gridlock On US Debt Talks
By Leslie Shaffer
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Asian markets fell Monday, weighed by concerns over stalled negotiations on raising the U.S. debt ceiling, which spurred the safe-haven yen higher and pressured shares of Japan's exporters.
"With just days to go now before the Aug. 2 deadline, investors who had previously written the impasse off as political games are now going to seriously consider the possibility of a default," GFT Global Markets director of global dealing operations Martin Slaney said. "No doubt there will be some midnight oil burnt between President Obama and Democrat leaders, but even were a deal to be cobbled together, the risk-reward of staying long at this late stage is evaporating."
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.6%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.8%, South Korea's Kospi Composite fell 0.8% and New Zealand's NZX-50 lost 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 114 points in screen trade.
The yen's strength against the dollar is "throwing cold water on Japanese manufacturers who had recovered quickly from the supply chain disruption" following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Tetsuya Miura, chief market analyst at Mizuho Securities said. "It's hard for the market's economic assessment to turn up."
Among exporters, Sony shed 1.5%, Sharp lost 1.1% and Toyota Motor was down 0.9%.
7:43 PM PT:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
The 14th Amendment, the Debt Ceiling and a Way Out
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: July 24, 2011
WASHINGTON — A few days ago, former President Bill Clinton identified a constitutional escape hatch should President Obama and Congress fail to come to terms on a deficit reduction plan before the government hits its borrowing ceiling. He pointed to an obscure provision in the 14th Amendment, saying he would unilaterally invoke it “without hesitation” to raise the debt ceiling, “and force the courts to stop me.” …
“I have talked to my lawyers,” Mr. Obama said. “They are not persuaded that that is a winning argument.” Adding another element of uncertainty, and possible court battles, to the debate do not seem to appeal to the White House. And it is, in any event, not clear that the nation’s creditors would continue to lend money to the United States were the president to take unilateral action.
“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,” the critical sentence says, “shall not be questioned.”
“While this provision was undoubtedly inspired by the desire to put beyond question the obligations of the government issued during the Civil War,” Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote for the court in 1935, “its language indicates a broader connotation.”
In recent weeks, law professors have been trying to puzzle out the meaning and relevance of the provision. Some have joined Mr. Clinton in saying it allows Mr. Obama to ignore the debt ceiling. Others say it applies only to Congress and only to outright default on existing debts. Still others say the president may do what he wants in an emergency, with or without the authority of the 14th Amendment.