Sen. Franken's Floor Statement on the Debt Crisis

[LarryHarveyMusic]

Blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah. STFU and do your damn job!

[nickrambus]

This is why we have an insane, out of control government. Here we have, a literal clown talking about the debt ceiling. Who is Al Franken that he knows jack frick squat about trillions of dollars.

It would take years of hard work and sacrifice to make the money this clown makes as a government drool.

But no, not our government. All you have to do is steam up a mirror and your set for a life of unaccountable lying fraud and pilfering of this country !!!

[lloydmauler]

@nickrambus what makes a clown like nickrambus know more bout the debt ceiling than al franken?

hey nick rambus, why did house republicans vote in favor of the dc education bill? creating new federal spending that was not paid for? ... and then turn around and say 'cut spending' ? nick is a hypocrite alongside all of the republicans

i'm not saying democratst are good. i'm saying that republicans refuse to own up to their own mistakes. like child support :)

[whodoesknow99]

Al is an amazing inspiration. A true American success story. Of course his great victory over the undead looking Norm was before unlimited anonymous PAC spending.

Every viewer must send him $1Million as he will need it in 2014.

[drl15son]

@nourali2 Was that necessary? How did the debt celling get to be about the holocaust and slavery? I'm an American who happens to be Black. I would gladly pay extra in taxes to be of any help to you if you needed it. I would stop and help if I saw your car broken down beside the road. All because it's the Christian thing to do. Assuming that you're not rich, will the GOP do the same?

[rionfoster]

@nourali2 racist

[noallo690]

Cut the fucking wars

[buzz851]

He's good enough, he's smart enough and dog-gone it I like him!

[davidsmyton]

Al Franken for President. Such an intelligent, articulate, leader. How sad there aren't more like him...on either side

[webstd]

platitudes and attack/ listen to Rubio if you want to hear common sense

[bumfug1]

Listening to Al Franken is one of the very few things that gives me any hope at all for this country.

[bookish01]

Your antidote to the daily boilerplate, content free, sound bite, bumper sticker approach to the budget.

[Toddduncanlyle1964]

Amen! 

[BlazinBillUSN]

It's called...balancing the budget. Don't spend more then you take in...cut the spending...cut the social programs....cut the size of government. Raise some taxes or better yet...create a flat rate tax that is FAIR to everyone.

[caedmonthegreat]

Mr. Franken, please run for President in 2016.

[1000diesel]

If every Senator in the US Senate had Frankin's integrity and conscience, we wouldn't be in this mess. They would have figured this out on their side.

I am not sure how to reform those scurrilous creatures in the House would fair. They are really impressive, the House.

[MiHiVidz]

I wish all of our Senators were as competent and dignified.

[milojacks]

I will never understand how anyone could want Norm Coleman to represent them when a man like this is ready willing and able to do the job. Sen. Franken is a true representative of the people that benefits all Americans, not just Minnesotans.

[1000diesel]

@milojacks big corporations and the Republican machine wanted a puppet to vote the way they told it to. The voters themselves are kept dumbed down and plied with focus-group-tested stump speeches and TV ads so that they are misinformed and/or hold a negative view of the Dem. Therefore voting for Coleman is voting for the better man, voting for Coleman is believing he will every some of the things he campaign on. But he's a Senator, not the President. We must get corporate $ out of elections.

[ProudLiberal2008]

GOLDEN. I knew Al would be a great senator.

[ladylordess]

More Fear-mongering brought to you by the people who brought us the failed stimulus. Why are we so concerned with the "rating agencies"?? They failed to see Enron and they failed to see the crisis at Fannie & Freddie. This is a scam.

The past 3 years, instead of lowering the debt, Obama has spent more!! His answer to all problems is to SPEND!! We have enough to NOT default and should NOT raise the debt ceiling. More fear-mongering and class war-fare for campaign purposes.

[SpitfireOFatj]

If this were the 60's the young people would devote a new dance to Republicans called "The Spin" in which they would continue to spin around until their legs went out from under them and they collapsed in a heap.

[philsteakfreeman]

This is the speech that Obama should have made.

[L8nitedave]

45 minutes well spent!!!

[unibattles]

Al Franken, please be my next president.

[unibattles]

@unibattles as long as you follow what you said on the floor and not turn into another Obama. As of last year, I don't trust any politician as president. You better be lucky that I have some faith in you.

[STEEEVVYZ]

EVERYONE SHOULD SEE THIS BRAVO PLEASE RUN FOR PRESIDENT!!

[North2016]

Anymore charades Franken?

How many times did you flip-flop on the Patriot Act? You call yourself a "progressive", then later go behind your constituents backs by voting in against what you say on floor speeches!

This goes for your other PATRIOT ACT bud in the Senate, Klobuchar

[zyrbts]

@North2016 And in what context is the Patriot Act - a "legislate for legislation's sake" law conjured out of thin air in the panicked aftermath of 9/11 - relevant in this discussion?

[North2016]

@zyrbts Of course it's relevant, it just shows Senator Franken's hypocrisy...

He says on thing, then goes behind your back when he votes... He is just another hypocrite in the sea of hypocrites on Capitol Hill.

[stephenexmachina]

Please someone transcribe this...and sell it on Amazon. This is required reading!

[sedowney]

"getting rid of a measly 2 Billion a year in tax-payer subsidies to oil companies"

I'll vote for that, thumbs up if you agree.

[118leslie]

One in five children live in poverty in our country! Senator Franken's speech should be used as a lesson in a class room on economics.

[FrostFortytwo]

Who knew a former SNL member and professional comedian and entertainer could be a better person and politician than 95-99% of Congress?

Go figure.

[Ender1zero1]

@FrostFortytwo Senator Franken graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1973 with a B.A. in political science and comedy takes brains and an ability to empathize Senator Franken can and does empathize with the people he represents. I hope his constituences know just how lucky they are to have him working for them.

[Htown75]

Can we just go back to the Clinton taxes and get a surplus again?

[yellowrose45]

He's got good staffers



[MightyMag]

I've been watching several videos of Mr. Franken here on youtube. I live in Sweden but if I could vote in Minnesota I would vote for Mr. Franken every day of the week. Educated and well prepared is the least one should expect from it's leaders and Mr. Franken shows just how it should be done.

[Hipshot60]

Those who can, Do.

Those who can"t, Turn to Politics.

Al, your disgusting.

[DisturbedHavok]

@Hipshot60 Because we all know, when faced with a blind man, Jesus (whom Republicans claim they follow) looked at that blind man, told him to stop crying and laughed at the blind man when he complained about being blind.... oh wait, Jesus didn't do that.

If the idea of helping your fellow man is disgusting to you, then what's the purpose of having a society? I mean, if we all should be in it for ourselves, what's the point?

[herc64fe]

How about we just stop spending so much damn money? Cut back like most families have had to. The problem is neither the Republicans (with the exception of Paul Ryan) or the Democrats want to come up with specifics of cuts so as not to offend any potential voters. We are standing at the edge of a cliff and the President and Congress will not come up with a plan. You can't debate what isn't there. You can't compromise in a vacuum.

Note to Congress: let's get on with it. You too Mr. President.

[UnclePutin]

AL Franken has won me over 100%. Thought he was going to be a joke, but now I see we need 99 more just like him. What a great speech.

[MorningBuzz]

Thank you senator.

[ViolentOrchid]

Seniors who have paid in... doesn't mean they paid anywhere near the amount they will claim. Otherwise, thumbs up.

[Davemanz]

I watched this whole thing and I was glad I did. I sure am lucky to be a Minnesotan because I have a choice I'm actually happy to make when I vote for my Senator. It's not "at least he's not as bad as the Republican", it's "He's a damn fine politician and better than anyone else in his party".

[oneirishpoet]

@Davemanz well said Dave, I wish Al was my Senator!

[TheGiantRobot]

I don't agree with raising the debt ceiling, and I don't agree I am responsible for the debt. The rich control America, they took that money, not I. They should pay it back.

Taxes on corporations and the rich are way too low, Pentagon spending is way too high. Democrats could use this debt ceiling lock as a powerful argument to change that. Instead, they let Republicans use the debt ceiling to cut social security and medicare, and Obama is going to do it. I like Franken, but his party is crap.

[SAbowser]

@TheGiantRobot Most Democrats (with some exceptions) have the exact same goal as the Republicans - to help the wealthy folks and corporations that fill their wallets. The Dems act like they're against tax cuts and entitlement cuts, but then they always fold and give the Republicans exactly what they want. They're two sides of the same coin. America needs MAJOR voting reform if it wants to get out of the hole it has dug for itself.

[TheGiantRobot]

@SAbowser

Agreed 100%.

[DisturbedHavok]

@TheGiantRobot Here's the problem though, and it's why the Republicans can use it the way that they do - the instant the US defaults, interest rates go up on everything. This will not hurt the richest of Americans, it WILL hurt the poor and middle class. Rich people probably don't have student loans or home mortgages to worry about. Those of us in the middle class do have those things to worry about.

I hate that the Democrats are mostly pussies too, but... (cont.)

[DisturbedHavok]

@TheGiantRobot If we default and things go to hell like that for the middle class, most Americans don't pay attention enough, or believe the crap being pushed on FOX News enough, to probably end up blaming Obama and the Democrats. So Republicans get more power to do what they want anyway and they and their main base, the wealthiest 1%, are doing alright after the crash.

[TheGiantRobot]

@DisturbedHavok

I don't buy that. If interest rates go up on everything, people default and banks go broke. They already charge the maximum the consumer can bear, which is way, way higher than the base rates. This is like the argument the rich will charge us more if X comes true. They always charge us all they can.

The other thing is, everyone knows who's holding the debt ceiling down. There's no successfully spinning that to people who care about the truth.

[DisturbedHavok]

@TheGiantRobot You think the banks actually give a shit if people default? They don't at this point. They've already begun setting up the same security swaps they had in place with the housing crisis. The people in charge of the big banks will walk away with everything and the rest of us are fucked. They didn't care the last time, they won't care this time.

[TheGiantRobot]

@DisturbedHavok

That doesn't make sense. Yes, banks care if you default. They don't have insurance on every single credit card account and car loan they hand out. And, if they jack all their rates up too high, they'll have no customers.

In any case, your arguments are revolving around the idea that we have to cater to them or they will fuck us. No, they are going to fuck us, that's a given. That won't change until we start catering to our interests.

[DisturbedHavok]

@TheGiantRobot It only doesn't make any sense if you actually believe the people in charge of those companies give a shit about the financial stability of that company in the end. If they walk out with millions or even billions because they've made backroom bets that people will default on these loans, after they've bundled all these loans up and sold them on a separate market to people wanting to try to make money on them... You should probably read up why the housing market crashed.

[TheGiantRobot]

@DisturbedHavok

Dude, knock it off, I know why the housing market crashed. Do they have insurance on their credit cards and car loans or don't they? Different beast. And if they sell those off, the people who bought them control the loan and it's not in their interest to see people default on it.

Again, if you think it's in banks' interest to have everyone default on their loans, why would a debt ceiling change anything?

[DisturbedHavok]

@TheGiantRobot You're acting as if insurance is how they will make their money. That's now how it worked with the housing market and it isn't how they'll do it with this new market.

[TheGiantRobot]

@DisturbedHavok

It is how it worked in the housing market. Don't you know about the AIG scam and bailout? How do you think banks make money on defaults without insurance? It's not rhetorical question, I want to know.

Also, you haven't addressed my question and the point I keep bringing up - since you say they are going to screw us anyway and make money on defaults somehow without insurance, why should we do them favors? Why?

[killgoretrout81]

watching al franken makes me feel the exact opposite way watching john boehner does.

[BrotherAlpha]

There are so few politicians I respect. Al Franken is one of them.