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Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner announced today in a dramatic shift that the House would vote on clean debt limit hike without any strings attached.  

This dramatic reversal has irritated many conservatives who wanted a bold approach to raising the debt limit but could never unite around one specific approach.

“Right now we’ve got a debt ceiling bill that increases spending, which is diametrically 180 degrees opposite of what we were battling over just two years ago — where the question was how much in spending cuts we were going to get,” said Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala

House leadership offered a couple of different approaches such as attaching the passage of the Keystone XL pipeline,  restoring cuts to military retirement benefits and blocking any bailout of insurance companies as it relates to “Obamacare.”

Boehner said in a press conference, “It’s recognition that we don’t have 218 votes. When you don’t have 218 votes, you have nothing.”

“We’ll let the Democrats put the votes up. We’ll put a minimum number of (GOP) votes up to get it passed,” Boehner said. “We’ll let the president’s party give him the debt ceiling increase that he wants.”

“I would expect virtually every Democrat to vote for it,” Boehner said, adding that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., promised him sweeping Democratic support.

President Obama and congressional Democrats were virtually unanimous against attaching anything to the raising of the debt ceiling vote.  Senate Majority Harry Reid has articulated for months that he will only insist on a clean raising of the debt ceiling without any strings attached.

Last year President Obama continually stated that he would not negotiate with Congress over raising of the debt limit and wants a clean debt ceiling bill; without any strings attached.   

White House spokesman Jay Carney reiterated President Barack Obama’s stance that he won’t negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt limit.

Pundits from both sides are now salivating at the winners and losers in the debt ceiling showdown, but the ultimate losers will be the American people.

Both sides have shown no inclination into solving the massive debt being accumulated by the U.S. and its impact on future economic activity.

Last week’s testimony by Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf, should have been a wake call for both political parties and for the President who consistently fails to lead on this.

The CBO Director stated before a Congressional committee last week the federal debt will shrink this year but begin to rise in 2016 and continue thereafter.

This year will not be a year of action but a year of inaction as both political parties gear up for the mid-term elections and with the side show circus of who will be each party’s nominee in the 2016 presidential election. 

Again, the real losers in this spectacle will be the American people.            [/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]