Senate Proposes Increasing US Debt Limit to $14.3 Trillion: “If Congress does not enact this legislation, and soon, then the Treasury would default on its debt for the first time in history,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus

On government debt:

“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.”
– John Adams

“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution — taking from the federal government their power of borrowing.”
– Thomas Jefferson

“‘Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren,” Obama said in a 2006 floor speech that preceded a Senate vote to extend the debt limit. “America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”
– Barack Obama (Exactly right!)

“When a country embarks on deficit financing and inflationism you wipe out the middle class and wealth is transferred from the middle class and the poor to the rich.”
– Ron Paul

“Deficits mean future tax increases, pure and simple. Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be exposed as tax hikers.”
– Ron Paul

“The dollar represents a one dollar debt to the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve Banks create money out of thin air to buy Government Bonds from the U.S. Treasury…and has created out of nothing a … debt which the American people are obliged to pay with interest.”
– Wright Patman

“The one aim of these financiers is world control by the creation of inextinguishable debts.”
– Henry Ford

“I place the economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers.”
– Thomas Jefferson

Those criminals in the US government and the Fed banksters are bankrupting America!

– George Carlin: The American Dream

(Much more info at the end of this article.)

U.S. Senate

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. debt limit would be raised by $1.9 trillion to $14.29 trillion under an amendment proposed in the Senate.

The chamber began debate yesterday on raising the debt ceiling for the fifth time in two years after lower tax revenue from the recession and higher stimulus spending boosted the calendar-year budget deficit to an all-time high last year.

“If Congress does not enact this legislation, and soon, then the Treasury would default on its debt for the first time in history,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat.

The White House in a statement urged lawmakers to pass the measure. “Such an increase is critically important to make sure that financing of federal government operations can continue without interruption,” it said.

The proposed ceiling would probably allow the Treasury to continue its borrowing until next year, said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York.

Congress passed a short-term increase in the debt limit to $12.39 trillion last month after a group of senators, led by Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota, refused to vote on a longer-term extension unless Congress created a commission to study deficit reduction.

The Obama administration reached a tentative accord with congressional Democrats to create a version of the panel by executive order, House aides said. The agreement was negotiated by House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Vice President Joseph Biden, said one of the House staffers. The aides commented on condition of anonymity.

Vote in Congress

The proposal by Conrad and Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire would require Congress to vote on the commission’s recommendations without making any changes. With a commission created by presidential order, congressional leaders would promise to bring its proposals to a vote although such a vote wouldn’t be required by law.

A commission appointed by the president would be “a backup” if Senate sponsors can’t get the votes to pass “what we think makes the most sense,” a panel created by Congress, Conrad told reporters. He said he didn’t expect to win approval of his proposal, which Baucus opposed in a speech on the Senate floor.

Gregg told reporters that the proposal to create a commission by executive order was “a very cynical act by the administration” that “is by definition partisan and the whole purpose” is to have a bipartisan body.

“There is no way you can require a vote” by Congress so “it’s a nothing-burger,” Gregg said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alison Fitzgerald in Washington at [email protected]; James Rowley in Washington at [email protected]

Last Updated: January 21, 2010 00:01 EST
By Alison Fitzgerald and James Rowley

Source: Bloomberg

The Fed and the US government are destroying America:

– Illinois enters a state of insolvency: ‘We’re close to de facto bankruptcy, if not de jure bankruptcy.’

– The No.1 Trend Forecaster Gerald Celente: Financial Mafia Controlling US and Wall Street

– Peter Schiff: The Lunacy of US Government Programs

– Former Dean of Harvard College Harry R. Lewis: Larry Summers, Robert Rubin: Will The Harvard Shadow Elite Bankrupt The University And The Country?

– Experts: Dollar Crisis Looms if US Doesn’t Curb Debt

– Marc Faber on Coming Sovereign Debt Crisis: Next Countries to Default are the US, Japan and the ‘PIIGS’

– Fitch: US Must Cut Spending To Save AAA Rating; US December Deficit Nearly Doubles