[Ann357]

Sounds good to me...

NBC/WSJ poll: 60 percent say fire every member of Congress Throw the bums out. That’s the message 60 percent of Americans are sending to Washington in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, saying if they had the chance to vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including their own representative, they would. Just 35 percent say they would not. The 60 percent figure is the highest-ever in that question recorded in the poll, registered in the wake of the government shutdown and threat of the U.S. defaulting on its debt for the first time in history. If the nation’s debt limit is not increased one week from now, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warns that the entire global economy could be in peril. “We continue to use this number as a way to sort of understand how much revulsion there is,” said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the poll with Republican Bill McInturff. “We now have a new high-water mark.”

More here: NBC/WSJ poll: 60 percent say fire every member of Congress - First Read

[quaist]

Thanks for posting this, Ann

I can totally see why a majority of Americans would want to replace all current members of Congress.

Not only are they getting the US on the brink of economic collapse, they're also seriously harming America's image in the world.

Basically, everyone's incredulously shaking their heads right now in the wake of how childishly these lawmakers across the pond are behaving.

[sunnykerr]

Considering that playground tactics have become de rigueur in Congress, I'm also not very surprised.

I will say that a similar feeling is to be found throughout Canada towards our own House, so maybe you can find some reassurance in that, Ann.

But, yeah, not at all surprising.

[quaist]

So, for a quick update, senators seem to be cautiously optimistic about a near solution, whereas veterans have been protesting against the shutdown in front of the White House.

No offense, but I'm not really sure the veterans got the right building there

[sunnykerr]

It's a failure to understand the proper functioning of the federal government.

They're confusing the executive and legislative branches.

Oh, those crazy forefathers and their system of "checks and balances."

[quaist]

Yeah, seems that part of the system got lost somewhere in the process. Nowadays, if Congress is stalling, basically everything comes to a halt.

[sunnykerr]

I don't suppose the forefathers planned for people who would seek election only to devote so much energy to doing f-all, you know?

White House debt meeting postponed White House talks on raising the US debt limit before it expires this week have been delayed to allow lawmakers more time to hammer out a deal. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are also at loggerheads over a partial government shutdown, which is now in its third week. But congressional leaders say there has been progress in their negotiations to find a way out of the impasse. The IMF says a US debt default would trigger global economic turbulence. On Thursday, the US must raise its $16.7tn (£10.5tn) borrowing limit so that the nation can pay its bills. In a statement, the White House said talks scheduled for Monday afternoon had been postponed to "allow leaders in the Senate time to continue making important progress towards a solution that raises the debt limit and reopens the government". The meeting was not immediately rescheduled. 'Potentially devastating' According to US media, congressional leaders are discussing a deal to fund the government until 15 January and raise the debt ceiling until around mid-February. President Barack Obama sounded his own warning as he toured a soup kitchen for the poor in Washington DC earlier on Monday. "This week if we don't start making some real progress, both the House and the Senate - and if Republicans aren't willing to set aside their partisan concerns in order to do what's right for the country - we stand a good chance of defaulting," he said. "And defaulting would have a potentially devastating effect on our economy." Expected to meet President Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden at the White House were Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. On Monday evening, Sen Reid said on the floor of the upper chamber that he and Sen McConnell had made "tremendous progress" towards a deal to raise the debt limit and reopen the government. He added: "We hope with good fortune, and the support of all of you, recognising how hard this is for everybody, that perhaps tomorrow will be a bright day. We're not there yet." Earlier, Sen McConnell also expressed optimism, following what he described as "a couple of very useful discussions" with the Democratic leader. A separate bipartisan group led by Republican Senator Susan Collins also met for several hours earlier in the day to discuss possible solutions, the Associated Press news agency reported. Congressional Democrats were said to be using the looming debt ceiling deadline as leverage to target previously enacted cuts to the US government budget. Those deep military and domestic spending cuts, known as the "sequester", went into effect in January 2013 after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a budget compromise. Analysts say the Senate talks represent the last best hope for a debt deal before Thursday, after talks between the White House and the Republican-led House of Representatives collapsed last week. Government and private sector analysts have warned for weeks of the dire consequences should Congress fail to reach an agreement on raising the nation's debt ceiling. The US treasury department has been using what are called "extraordinary measures" to pay the nation's bills since the nation reached its current debt limit in May. Those extraordinary measures will be exhausted by 17 October, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said. A swathe of government services remain closed for business after Congress missed a 1 October deadline to pass a budget, with Congress unable to agree to a law to keep the government funded. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees were sent home and government offices closed. Republicans would not approve a new budget unless President Obama agreed to delay or eliminate the funding of the Affordable Care Act, his signature healthcare reform law of 2010. Mr Obama has refused to budge on the matter, accusing Republicans of "extortion" in using the shutdown and the nation's debt limit as leverage in negotiations.

[quaist]

The crisis seems to be over, at least for now.

And guess what, Ted Cruz has announced that he won't launch another filibuster to delay the Senate vote on the compromise the 'gang of 12' has reached (he's probably still tired from his last one). Phew.

So apparently Republicans grew afraid of their own courage to risk a collapse of the US economy just for the benefit of blocking one single law they're not content with.

[sunnykerr]

And now the House has until midnight to stop the Titanic from hitting that iceberg.

Let's face it, the House is always where these things hit a snag.

So I hope the Tea Party gets locked in a room, to be honest.

Let the grown-ups talk it out.

[GardenSirens]

Nevermind.......

[quaist]

^ Oh, hey Matt, long time no see!

What do you think about the current political landscape in the US?

As of now, the debt ceiling catastrophe has obviously been averted -- that is, at least until January/February.

ETA:

The GOP's epic defeat in one chart

[ireeagleman]

The next elected and becoming US president should be 41 years old and completes the first term at 45 years old by 2020 before making a next move on reelection.

[sunnykerr]

^ Erm, okay? Not sure what you mean, to be honest.

But welcome.

And hey, Matt! Long time no see indeed!

And catastrophe postponed for the budget.

[GardenSirens]

Hey guys, good to be back for sure! I've been so busy doing nothing lately haha. Well my wife no longer asks me to pretend to be a liberal so I'm still that conservative guy you've all come to love! I tend to put emotions aside for what's been going on in the US and look at the facts. I see it as 95% of the country's health monthly fees are going up and deductibles are tripling. I see the shutdown as being caused by Obama and Democrats as many times the GOP said that they want to work with them they just want to be met halfway and even proposed four or five bills to reopen the government. It created a lot of chaos here in the states for the last 2 weeks.

Of course, as scary as it seemed, it impacted a very small amount of people. My wife's great uncle was one of the vets in Washington. It was called a once in a lifetime journey. Before the shutdown, the government organized to fly ALL living WW2 vets to the memorial and share stories and be with like minded people. They paid for the flights, hotel, food, etc...and when he got there the shutdown happened. It's pretty messed up they weren't allowed at a memorial that doesn't require anyone at. That upset me because I'm a big fan of the vets as I come from a military family.

Personally, I've been really upset at the rollout of Obamacare. Having not been able to sign into the website for the first few weeks, I finally got through. What was costing me 160 a month for me and 150 a month for my wife is going up to 195 for me and 301 for my wife a month. Our deductible was only 3,000 dollars and now....ready for it....7800 dollars. So we declined it and now my wife, a very open liberal, has disowned her party and people. She's not conservative (yet) but seeing this in black and white numbers means everything Obama promised about this was a lie. Seeing stories pour in nationwide is scary and it's not even in full effect yet.

In other news, my golden retriever got a haircut and he's the cutest pooch!! Glad to be back and I missed y'all.

OH and on the debt deal...it's going to be this all over again in January and February. They've said kicking the can down the road and it's true. It's scary because eventually they're going to have to do their jobs and work out a budget that lasts longer than 3 months and that stops us from spending ourselves into oblivion. We're still paying off money borrowed for World War 1 and that just baffles my mind. I could understand Vietnam and maybe even Korea, but WW2 and WW1....both parties need to get their S together. I just hope people are paying close attention to the black and white and not the rhetoric with the elections a year and two weeks away.

[quaist]

Originally Posted by ireeagleman (View Post) The next elected and becoming US president should be 41 years old and completes the first term at 45 years old by 2020 before making a next move on reelection.

Welcome to the board!

Maybe you'd like to explain what you meant exactly by suggesting the next president should be 41 years old?

Originally Posted by placebobsh (View Post) Hey guys, good to be back for sure! I've been so busy doing nothing lately haha. Well my wife no longer asks me to pretend to be a liberal so I'm still that conservative guy you've all come to love!

Welcome back!

I'm a bit confused right now, though. As I'd understood it, you used to pretend being a conservative despite actually being a liberal. Now it seems like it's the complete opposite?!

Either way though, I think it's very nice to have people with all kinds of different political views on board. As long as everyone's being polite and respectful towards differing opinions, I think everything's fine

On another note, what are everyone's views on Obama having nominated Jeh Johnson as head of the Department of Homeland Security?