And, folks, I just want to tell you that this balanced budget amendment addition to the Boehner bill unspecified, no, there's nothing at all in this change that describes any element of the Balanced Budget Amendment, so it could contain massive tax increases. It's well understood that in the end this is going to lead to a Reid/McConnell bill that will swell the debt even further. That's version C. That's where this is all leading is version C. .. Hold onto your back pocket. It's about tax increases. - Rush Limbaugh
RUSH: This entire process is deceptive and I don't think everybody's being told the facts. Yesterday I pretty much put forth a conspiracy theory that we've been set up from the start, that we're a bunch of saps being played as saps. Remember when Boehner broke off talks with Obama, said he was going to try to make a deal with the leaders in the Senate. Maybe he did do exactly that and maybe he's been quietly working with McConnell, Reid and Biden, all along behind the scenes. The Boehner and Reid plans are remarkably similar except for the timeline and the BBA. The timeline could be easily extended by just adding in the phony defense cuts from Reid's bill. It could well be that Reid called the Boehner bill dead on arrival to give Boehner cover on the right. Maybe it's all been kabuki theater after all.
The reason that I say this is there's a Fox News story by Ed Henry. The real deal Boehner was working on while asking his members to vote for a deal that he knew would be used to bring this all about, potential debt limit Plan C emerges. Plan C. "Democrat officials are cautiously optimistic." This is from yesterday. "Democratic officials are cautiously optimistic that the outlines of a potential compromise -- a 'Plan C' -- are emerging that could bridge the differences between plans pushed by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The officials said President Obama has spent the past couple of days quietly reaching out to leaders in both parties to try and start hammering out the details, though it's clear this is still only in the discussion phase and they are not close to a deal yet. Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., hinted at such a compromise earlier Thursday during an interview on Fox News. 'Let me just say behind the scenes there are discussions underway to find a way forward,' said Conrad. 'To how would you harmonize what Leader Reid has come up with and Speaker Boehner has come up with and I'm increasingly of the view that we can do that.'"
They're not telling us about this, folks. We think that Boehner is talking to the Republican caucus to try to come up with something to get Republican votes. But really Boehner's talking with Reid. And I'm sure McConnell is part of the deal, too. So I wonder if this is true. I wonder how Republicans in the House feel if they might think that they're not being told fully what's going on. The vote has been delayed twice. I think largely that's because of people in this audience and elsewhere are letting it be known that this is unacceptable. They don't care what the big names at Krauthammer Review Online, believe and the crystal standard. The Wall Street Journal called its subscribers hobbits yesterday. The Wall Street Journal, the people who subscribe to that are conservatives, in an editorial they're calling you hobbits. The subscribers!
They just want a deal. That magic word compromise. That's the magic. Obama's remarks this morning seem to be addressing this plan C. If you knew that there's a plan C being talked about, then it makes what Obama said a little bit clearer. So essentially, ladies and gentlemen, what's going on is what I thought was going on yesterday, and that is a way for Reid to take whatever the Republicans come up with and all of a sudden say, "You know what, now this I can work with." Make it his bill in the Senate and then send it back to the Republicans. The theory on why this will work is because everybody thinks the Republicans are acting out of fear. They're so desperate to get this signed and off the table and to move on that they'll sign whatever's in it. That's where they're wrong and I think they are figuring this out even now as we speak.
RUSH: Sticking point of Plan C is the "trigger," and what triggers it? That's the sticking point. Here's the Politico version, ladies and gentlemen, of the story: "Democrats are aiming for a debt limit compromise similar to the House Republican plan with at least one major difference: The second vote on raising the debt ceiling would not depend on Congress passing a broader deficit-reduction package." That's the trigger. I'm talking about version C. That's not Boehner 3.0 with his new Balanced Budget Amendment. It's the one they're really talking about, behind closed doors. "Democrats are aiming for a debt limit compromise similar to the House Republican plan with one major difference: the second vote, meaning next year, we gotta raise the debt limit again."
How ridiculous is this that we're going to raise the debt limit here and raise it next spring? I know we're trying to deny him one giant raise so Obama doesn't get his lifeline. But the whole point is we're supposed to be cutting it! Anyway, "The second vote on raising the debt ceiling would not depend," this is the Democrat demand, "on Congress passing a broader deficit reduction package," meaning the Democrats don't like this idea that there have to be spending cuts equal to the debt increase the second time next spring. That's the trigger they disagree. "The shape of this potential compromise meshes major elements of the proposals offered in recent weeks by [Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Dingy Harry], according to Democrat officials familiar with the negotiations."
So there's two stories on this version C out there. Fox and Politico. "Under the possible compromise Congress could still get a second crack at voting on the debt limit within months, but rather than linking the vote to Congress approving the recommendations of a new 12-member committee, as it would be in the Boehner bill, Democrats prefer McConnell's proposal that allows Obama to lift the debt ceiling unless two-thirds of both chambers override his veto." So what the Democrats want is for Obama to be able to raise the debt limit on his own during the second tranche would be some time earlier next year without any corresponding spending cuts.
The only stop would be a veto: Two-thirds of both houses opposing it (which, in the Senate, you can forget about). So essentially what is actually being talked about is not Boehner 3.0, but Plan C, and if they come to an agreement on that trigger, Boehner 2.0, well, it will get passed and get sent over there and it will become Plan C. That's the game that's being played. "To force action on a deficit-reduction package, the White House would agree to strengthen the mechanism that compels Congress to pass the special committee's recommendations. According to these Democrat officials. The officials would not detail proposals for so-called trigger that acts at an incentive for both parties to bargain in good faith and reach agreement," because there won't be one!
Democrats want the trigger to include taxes. That's what they're holding out for. Boehner 2.0, Boehner 3.0, Plan C, the Democrats are holding out for taxes -- and that's why they'll not put it on paper. It is why they don't have a specific plan. Well, they do. They just won't commit it to paper. When Obama went out there today, this morning, in his remarks, he said that he would support a trigger mechanism that would implement future spending cuts as long as it's done in "a smart and balanced way." Now, "smart and balanced way," (
means higher taxes
) I am so sick of this kind of Washington-speak! There's nothing "smart" about this administration, and there's nothing "balanced" about it. The fact that we let them get away with owning the notion that they're smart and they have balance in what they're doing is absurd!
They are the most leftist, destructive administration this country has had in the modern era. Maybe ever! I can't think of a regime which has led an assault like this on the US private sector, relentlessly, and not even lightened up on it. So Obama will support the trigger as long as it's done in "a smart and balanced way." That means any plan will have to include higher taxes to get his support, because whenever he talks about a balanced approach, he means higher taxes. The Democrats want there to be automatic taxes that kick in if the Republicans don't agree with their cuts. It's always about taxes with the Democrats. Always. And we're supposed to compromise? We have been compromising every day of this whole silly process -- with ourselves -- to try to please them, because we are acting out of fear. We are afraid of somebody who would lose in a landslide if the election were held today. So there it is: Plan C.
Hold onto your back pocket. It's about tax increases.
RUSH: as you can imagine, folks, I am being swamped. In fact, if you want to know, it's flat-out amazing this show is making any sense today, because I am being swamped. Everybody and their uncle who wants something is finding a way to get it to me. One of the things I'm told is that by adding the Balanced Budget Amendment to Boehner 3.0, despite its lack of specificity, is going to give cover to a handful of the holdouts.
I've got a couple of sound bites, Jeff Flake, for example, in Arizona was a holdout. The Balanced Budget Amendment I think gives him cover. Grab sound bite 25 out there. This was on CNBC's The Call today. They interviewed Jeff Flake, Republican, Arizona, about the Boehner bill. The question: "Congressman Flake, do you think the Speaker will go along with the idea of inserting a Balanced Budget Amendment in the bill, do you have any indication that he's game for that?"
FLAKE: Yes, yes. There's a number of us who had discussions yesterday, last night, about this, and a number of us, we want something that cuts and caps and balances. The Boehner bill cut and capped but it didn't balance. And now if we add that element, then a number of us, I think, are fine to go with it. In fact, enthusiastically will vote for it.
RUSH: So there you have it. They're excited, enthusiastic to vote for it. And believe me, there's enormous pressure that they are getting from Boehner and the conservative media pundits. And, folks, I just want to tell you that this balanced budget amendment addition to the Boehner bill unspecified, no, there's nothing at all in this change that describes any element of the Balanced Budget Amendment, so it could contain massive tax increases. It's well understood that in the end this is going to lead to a Reid/McConnell bill that will swell the debt even further. That's version C. That's where this is all leading is version C. If you didn't hear the first hour of the program, you don't know what version C is, I can't keep going back and repeating it because I spent so much time on it.
But there's a third bill that's being privately negotiated between Reid and McConnell that I think, a lot of other people do, too, but I'm pretty sure this is what's going on, the assertion here the Balanced Budget Amendment is designed to get the recalcitrant Republicans to sign on to it and say, "Okay, this makes it okay," and that gets sent over to the Senate and miraculously Reid is going to have a come-to-Jesus moment, "Guess what, there is something we can work with here." And that bill's going to become totally different. It will be sent back to the Republicans in an entirely different form or remarkably different form. It seems to be the plan now. These Tea Party Republicans are just under enormous pressure to relent. I can't tell you how much.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You heard me right. Snerdley is asking me, "Did I hear you say that these Republican holdouts are being tweeted?" That's right. Now follow me on this, because it is kind of funny. These Republicans, we played the sound bites earlier today. Gloria Borger and F. Chuck Todd and Anderson Cooper, why, they can't believe these Tea Party people in the House, why, committee assignments aren't working. Promises of campaign re-election cash are not working. They can't be bought. Gloria Borger said they can't be bought. F. Chuck said these guys can't be bought in the traditional Washington way. And Anderson Cooper said it's kind of refreshing. Well, yeah, yeah, but we've got to compromise.
So a bunch of Tea Party people who can't be bought are now being tweeted. Tweeting them is going to pressure them. Is that not hilarious? They're going to tweet/harass 'em. They can't be bought off. Promises of committee assignments are not going to change their votes. "Okay, so we'll bring out the heavy artillery, we'll really get to them. We'll start tweeting 'em." That's going to do it? A whole new way of doing business in Washington, and it's roiling the old guys. The old guys, including the old guys at Krauthammer Review Online and the Crystal Standard. It's not so much what Krauthammer is saying, it's that whatever he says is what National Review Online says. That's why it's Krauthammer Review Online. I had to rename it. KRO.
Anyway, the Tea Party, folks, they are causing more shock and change to this, 25 or 30 guys. This is why we need to keep winning elections. It's amazing. Now they're going to tweet them to death. It's why the Democrats and the Drive-Bys are trying to cast all of us as terrorists. It's their last best chance to change public opinion, which is uniformly against them. Obama is in the 40s. We are afraid of somebody polling in the 40s, and I'm going to tell you something, if it weren't for the Wilder effect or the phony polls, he wouldn't be in the 40s in talking about approval numbers. George Bush, they got him down to the 30s with only 5.7 percent unemployment. And somehow sitting here at a growth rate of 1.3 percent, .4 percent last quarter, 9.2 percent unemployment and the president's in the 40s approval? I'm sorry, I don't buy it. (interruption) Well, it's an interesting question. What happens if there's no deal?
It turns out Obama's got a secret plan anyway and Bill Daley, the Chief of Staff, gave it up to Wolf Blitzer on CNN. I have the transcript. You want to hear it? Okay. From the transcript. Now, Daley is the Chief of Staff. Blitzer: So what you're saying is the president did present a plan to the Speaker, John Boehner? Daley: Yes. Blitzer: But he didn't -- Daley: Right. Blitzer: -- make it public? Daley: No, because both the Speaker and the president had agreed that these sorts of negotiations don't happen in public.
So Obama and Boehner are talking in private. Daley gave that up, and then on the debt ceiling, on the debt deal, Daley tells Blitzer: We're optimistic. Here's a transcript. Daley thinks there will be a deal before August 2nd. Blitzer: But then they've got 40 percent of the checks that are supposed to go won't go out. Daley: Well, that will be -- the Treasury Department will lay out exactly how that would work at a certain point between now and Tuesday, obviously. But we're optimistic. The four leaders of the Congress have said that the debt ceiling will be extended. We're confident that they will come together. Look at the stock market. The market's dropped over the last four days like three percent. Real people are losing money. Pensioners, people who depend on their 401(k)s, the values of the stocks in those, they're losing money right now while Congress in Washington is kind of just dallying here.
Blitzer: So the bottom line, you think there will be a deal between now and Tuesday somehow crafted? But you're not convinced necessarily that the AAA credit rating will remain AAA. Daley: Well, nobody can guarantee that obviously. The rating agencies which make that judgment will look at this, and they'll look at what comes out of this effort and see two things, whether or not we have a serious attempt that's going to affect the deficit, and reduce the deficit, get this cloud of another vote of another debt ceiling of uncertainty off the table for at least 18 months until -- it's not about the election, Wolf, it's trying to give the general economy a chance to get healthy over the next 18 months. Blitzer: Has President Obama spoken with the Speaker? Daley: Well, he's not spoken to the Speaker in a few days. The truth is it looks as if the speaker is rather engaged in putting together his bill. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Blitzer: You say the president has put forward a plan? Daley: Uh-huh. Blitzer: But the CBO says that there's no plan they can score because it's just a framework. It's just a speech. They haven't seen a document. Daley: Well, Speaker Boehner knows and Congressman Cantor knows the plan they both worked on try to bring the debt down and get past this debt ceiling, he doesn't have a legislative fix right now to this, meaning Obama, because there's a bill in the House. There's a bill in the Senate. They'll deal with those two bills. He's endorsed Senator Reid's bill. Feels very strongly that the bill that the House may pass tonight does not help the economy, and what all of this should be about is trying to not only lower the debt but at the same time get this cloud of uncertainty off our economy. And we thought we'd be right back in the same thing in four and a half months blah, blah, blah. Blitzer: So you're saying the president did present a plan to speak with Boehner? Daley: Yes. Blitzer: But he didn't make it public? Daley: That's right. Because the Speaker and the President have agreed that these sort of negotiations shouldn't happen in public.
I know. I know, Snerdley. I know. I know. Now, I'm not through. I'm not through. So here's William Daley admitting that Boehner and Obama have a deal. They've been talking. (interruption) But what? I know. Boehner told us that Obama has no plan. And, well, Daley basically said Obama's plan is Reid's plan. But they're talking as though Obama has a plan, just not going to make it public. I guess one of the prerequisites here is that everybody knows Obama has a plan but we're not going to make it public, Republicans have agreed not to acknowledge. Well, I don't know why we would do that. Out of fear.
Now, Bloomberg has a story headline: "US Contingency Plan Gives Bondholders Priority -- The US Treasury will give priority to making interest payments to holders of government bonds when due if lawmakers fail to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, according to an administration official. The official requested anonymity because no announcement has been made. The Treasury has said about $90 billion in debt matures on Aug. 4 and more than $30 billion in interest comes due Aug. 15. Overall, more than $500 billion matures in August. The $90 billion in six-month Treasury bills maturing Aug. 4 pared losses after the comments. Obama administration officials will brief the public no earlier than after financial markets close tomorrow on priorities for paying the nation’s bills."
Look. I could read all of this. The point is they have a plan to pay bondholders first, which is the definition of default, not paying the bondholders would be default. They have a plan to pay them first. There is a plan already in place at Treasury, a contingency if the debt ceiling isn't raised. There will not be any default. So Daley gives up the fact that Obama has a secret plan that the Republicans know about, nobody's made it public. This is why I said yesterday that we're being played as a bunch of saps. I don't want to go so far as to say the fix is in, but these are all people from the Washington Ruling Class who want government to continue to spend money. That's their job. That's how they look at their job.
Look at these bills anyway: $917 billion in cuts, over $14 trillion in debt. We're going to raise the debt ceiling up to close to $17 trillion and we're cutting $900 billion over 10 years. I mean, it's a drop in the ocean. It's not serious. And yet we're told by our own people, "Well, it's the best we can do. It's a good start and it keeps us from being blamed."
