Democrats -- With No Bill of Their Own -- Point Accusing Finger at Republicans

Democrats -- With No Bill of Their Own -- Point Accusing Finger at Republicans
Friday, July 29, 2011
By Susan Jones

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, accused House Speaker John Boehner of “partisan politicking,” and she said if he doesn’t "compromise" with Democrats on a debt-ceiling deal, Republicans will “have no one to blame but themselves for the fallout.”

The Florida Democrat released the following statement Thursday after House Speaker John Boehner again postponed a vote on the Republicans' debt-ceiling bill.

Boehner lacked the votes to pass the bill, which does not cut spending enough to satisfy tea party conservatives. Democrats won't back the Republican bill, partly because it raises the debt limit in two stages.

“This should be a wakeup call to Speaker Boehner and the intransigent Republican Majority -- the ‘it’s-my-way-or-the-highway’ approach to solving our debt and default crisis is the wrong way for Congress and the American people," Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.

"What’s been clear to everyone from the beginning should be clear to the Speaker now: it will require Democratic votes to resolve this crisis and it will require compromise to secure those votes and move beyond this impasse.

“Now that his attempt at partisan politicking has failed, I hope that Speaker Boehner will finally join with President Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders in a serious way to enact bipartisan legislation to prevent an historic and catastrophic default on the United States’ debt.

In fact, Boehner spent many hours in discussions with the White House in an attempt to reach a deal, but those talks collapsed when – in Boehner’s words – Obama “moved the goalposts.” Boehner said a tentative deal fell through when Obama insisted on raising taxes and “refused to get serious about cutting spending.”

According to Wasserman Schultz, "There’s not much time left to solve this problem, but if Republicans are finally willing to sit down with Democrats, we can achieve a real solution that protects our credit rating, avoids default and begins to get our fiscal house in order. If Republicans, at this late hour, refuse to do so, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves for the fallout.”

Both parties are anxious to avoid “blame” – and to blame the other party -- for missing the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt limit.