After a two-day, five hundred point Dow Jones rally on nothing but hope that just because politicians are talking, all shall be well, it was the weekend's turn, when the market is conveniently closed, for true Congressional colors to emerge. Sure enough, moments ago Boehner told GOP lawmakers that Obama has "rejected our deal", and that talks with the president have hit an impasse. The WSJ, whose recent poll in conjunction with NBC found Republican approval rating at an all time low (because if the debt ceiling slams shut, the machinery that funds both the "wealth effect" for the 0.01% and the 60 million on foodstamps and disability will cease: or in other words a bust for the ultra wealthy and poor, if not quite so bad for what's left of the middle class) reports that his comments, in a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, put renewed focus on a plan being developed by Senate Republicans to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and fully reopen the government. As we speculated, Obama, smelling blood, has decided to shut down the GOP on all their demands: "On Saturday, a House GOP aide said Mr. Obama had essentially rejected everything offered by House Republican leaders in their proposal." Which is hardly a negotiation. The question is will the GOP, having pushed the country so far, decide to back off now, and let Obama take all the spoils?
As also reported previously, house lawmakers portrayed their talks with the White House more negatively than the picture that had emerged on Friday, after Mr. Obama phoned Mr. Boehner to discuss a proposal that House Republicans presented late Thursday. The White House said Mr. Obama had "concerns'' about the plan but that the two sides had agreed to keep talking.
Mr. Boehner told GOP lawmakers he was now waiting for Mr. Obama to re-engage with the House leadership, said Rep. Richard Hudson (R., N.C.). "The president will have to come to the table with something,'' said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R., Ill.). "All eyes are now on the Senate. The question is what will Senate Republicans do.''
And while in the Senate the prevailing GOP sentiment is one of folding to Obama as well, Darrell Issa most recently noted that Obama has rejected the Seante GOP offer as well which he said "contains real reform", instead pushing merely for higher taxes.
So while Obama seems dead set on getting his way or the highway, all the momentum for late last week appears to have stalled, perhaps direcly as a result of the massive ramp in the stock market which once again may have come too early, taking away all the pressure from the negotiation, which now appears set to repeat the tried and true pattern of yet another market plunge whose only goal is to force the negotiators to sign in the 11th hour.
And speaking of 11th hour, it may just be revisited, since as Bloomberg reported, after today there are no votes scheduled until 6:30 pm on Monday, roughly two days before the first X-Date.
More from Bloomberg:
- Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, says Obama is “not talking to us” and “is trying to talk to the Senate Republicans”
- Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., says he knows of no plans by leadership to seek a vote on increasing debt ceiling for six weeks
- Rep. John Fleming, R-La., says “we’re getting a bait and switch strategy from the White House;” next step is for House members to keep passing clean piecemeal bills to open govt
- After today, House isn’t planning any votes until Monday around 6:30pm, says Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla.
In short: anyone who thought the debt ceiling tragicomedy was over, is very much mistaken. And just to make sure of that, here is Harry Reid:
Reid on House GOP-WH talks: "That’s over with, it’s done. They’re not talking anymore."
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) October 12, 2013
Reid on House GOP plans: “Wow. that is so logical and so sensible and so good for the country. And I say that very very sarcastically”
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) October 12, 2013
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