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By Karoun Demirjian (contact) 
Monday, July 18, 2011 | 10:40 a.m.
Harry Reid
WASHINGTON — Back when I was in graduate school, I had a professor who said most U.N. treaties are concluded between the hours of 2 and 6 in the morning, simply because the diplomats get so sick and tired of working that they buckle down and finish the fine print.
Sen. Harry Reid is hoping to inflict that sort of pressurized logic on the Senate, which, he just announced, he’ll be keeping in session every day -- weekends too -- until Congress strikes a deal on the debt limit.
Lawmakers have been locking horns over how to strategically raise the national debt ceiling in a way that lets the country avoid default and also start to pay down what it owes.
Congressional leaders met with the President on a near-daily basis last week to try to hash out some sort of a deal. But while the process got leaders to put various options on the table, they’ve been digging in more than they’ve been dealing.
With the deadline of August 2 fast approaching -- that being the day Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the country won’t be able to meet its obligations anymore — everyone is losing their patience.
“The Senate has no more important task than making sure the United States does not fail to pay our bills for pre-existing obligations like Social Security for the first time in our history,” Reid said. “To ensure that we meet this responsibility, the Senate will stay in session every day, including Saturdays and Sundays, from now until Congress passes legislation that prevents the United States from defaulting on our obligations.”
This is the second time Reid has denied lawmakers their usual recesses. The first time was right before the Fourth of July, when the President admonished lawmakers for taking too many vacation weeks and not spending enough time in Washington getting the business of government done.
Reid held lawmakers in session for their traditional Fourth of July week-long holiday, giving them a four-day weekend over the fourth, but calling them back the following Tuesday to buckle down and get some real work done. It didn’t really have the intended effect.
That week, the Senate took two votes: a “Motion to Instruct the Sergeant at Arms to Request Absent Senators” -- a.k.a. taking attendance -- a procedural motion to proceed to consideration of a bill that would express the sense of the Senate that millionaires and billionaires ought to do their part to resolve the budget deficit. (If a “Sense of the Senate” resolution sounds a bit fluffier than other law, that’s because it is; in any case, while Senate did eventually proceed to talking about it, they didn’t agree to it.)
Reid defended the choice, saying the time spent in session was valuable to for getting things done behind the scenes, and reminding lawmakers that not everything happens on the Senate floor.
There are fifteen days until August 2.
The problem is not in the Senate. The House is not just going to rubber stamp what the Senate passes. They are going to feed it to the shredder.
Try cutting back funding for things like the mating habits of the earthworm and funding senators and represenatives over priced retirement package.
Next take away large industries tax loop-holes and bring US companies back to the US.
Stop having our country live on credit and supporting the rest of the world. Let's take care of our own and pay our bills.
"The problem is not in the Senate. The House is not just going to rubber stamp what the Senate passes. They are going to feed it to the shredder"
Then I guess the country is on it's way to going to sh*t for sure August 2. Hope you have all your ducks in a row 'cause it's gonna hurt EVERYONE!
2 words.........TERM LIMITS!
So 102 times the debt ceiling has been raised, I'm hoping for the 103rd to do the trick... *crossing fingers*
Reid's office said they were not involved in doing something about the Murdock snoop squad. They were working on the budget. Wake up Harry! If it wasn't for FOX and the WSJ, there would not be a budget "crisis." They are egging on the nut bars and Teabags. Newscrap International should be taken over and shut down by the Government.
Hopefully, Mr. Reid will be our Great Senator for the next thousand years.
Where is last years budget Senator and this years budget? What have you done this year to ballance the budget and keep America out of bankruptcy? Retire, go back to Searchlight and quietly live your life, out of public view. Thank you for your service! By, BY......
The Senate working is news
Typical Reidsh stunt - all blabber and no results.
"MUTUAL RESPECT, UNITY & TEAM WORK"
"If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will
say to the mountain, 'Move from here!' and it will move."
"MUTUAL RESPECT, UNITY, COMPROMISE & TEAM WORK CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS"
"A DIVIDED HOUSE CREATES, UNREST WITH DIVISION AND NOTHING BUT
HARDSHIP FOR ALL"
TIME FOR ALL POLITICAL PARTIES IN OUR WORLD TO PUT THEIR TITLES ASIDE, ROLL
UP THEIR SLEEVES, STOP POINTING FINGERS AT EACH OTHER, FOCUS ON THE BALL ONCE
AGAIN, AND FIGURE OUT HOW TO FIX THE BALL ! !
THE BALL IS AMERICAS ECONOMY ! !
"TIME TO TEAM UP AMERICA "
Forget about what Party you are, the Party is over, Time To Get To Work; To Put
Everyone Back To Work, Still Keeping Our Planet Safe At The Same Time ! !
"TOGETHER WE CAN DO THIS, SEPARATE WE CAN DO NOTHING"
"OUR CHOICE, OUR COUNTRY"
"TIME TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE"
"UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL"
Imagine what could be accomplished if all the negative energy & time that is
spent on how to make the other party look bad was spent on how to Create Jobs
For Americans, We Need A United Nation More Than Ever IN THE HISTORY OF THE:
"UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" I will say it again;
"UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"... NOT... "DIVIDED STATES OF AMERICA"
Thank You, Respectfully, Michael V. Caldwell "THINKING OUT OF
THE BOX FOR AMERICA"
Maybe along the way the Dims can do a budget also.
Well, poor Harry Reid and his cohorts! They only work 160+ days a year and they are now making a sacrifice? The bottom line is our elected officials are ignorant of the Constitution, but this doesn't stop them them proposing Amendments to a document they don't even try to understand. This may well go for the American public also. Our Constitution ordained a limited Federal govt with Enumerated Powers only, few and defined! Our Constitution does not permit Congress to create & fund Depts of Ag.,Education,Energy,Health & Human Services, Hud, Labor, Transportation etc nor appropriate funds for the Boards, Commissions & Committies, pork, massive welfare & entitlement programs such as Medicare,Medicaid,Soc.Sec or bailout funds for businesses 'too big to fail,' or govt corporations such as Amtrak, SBA, RR retirement Board etc. We must return to personal respnsibility. 47% of We the People are of such a mindset that to live at other people's expense is deemed to be a right. Our Congressmen should know: you cannot battle debt with more debt, so if they want to balance the budget immediately all they have to do is vote NO on raising the debt ceiling & start eliminating all the welfare departments or other govt interference agencies.