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Groton Daily Independent
Friday, Aug. 25, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 056 ~ 37 of 65
the debt ceiling or stopgap legislation needed to avert a government shutdown when the scal year ends on Sept. 30. Trump is expected to hold meetings with congressional leaders after the Labor Day holiday. Asked about the debt ceiling, Sanders put the onus on Congress to resolve the matter: “It’s our job to
inform Congress of the debt ceiling and it’s their job to raise it.”
She added that the White House was looking for a “clean” debt ceiling bill — without any legislative
add-ons. But tea party Republicans and outside conservative groups are demanding spending cuts as the price for increasing the borrowing limit.
Raising the debt ceiling has often confounded Congress. A 2011 standoff between Republicans and the Obama administration over raising borrowing authority led to tighter controls on spending. That standoff was not resolved until the 11th hour and prompted Standard & Poor’s to impose the rst-ever downgrade to the country’s credit rating.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said raising the debt ceiling and securing the U.S. border was a “good combination” and suggested Republicans force Democrats into dif cult votes over the borrowing limit.
“Let’s put them in a box when it comes to the debt ceiling. The president is not crazy to attack the Congress. He’s not crazy to think of ways to put Democrats in a bad spot regarding the debt ceiling. They do this all the time to us,” Graham said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Beyond the challenge of the debt limit, the effort to avoid a government shutdown could be complicated by Trump’s long-promised plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The president threatened Tuesday to force a federal shutdown unless Congress provides money for the project. Sanders told report- ers the administration would “continue to push forward and make sure the wall gets built.”
Appearing at a Louisville breakfast event, McConnell tried to brush aside the tensions with Trump, quip- ping that running the Senate was “a little bit like being the groundskeeper at a cemetery. Everybody’s under you, but nobody’s listening.”
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Associated Press writer Adam Beam in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.
Bookies will lose millions if McGregor knocks out Mayweather By TIM DAHLBERG, AP Sports Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Conor McGregor is making a lot of wise guys nervous in this gambling city.
Should he somehow manage to knock out Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the early rounds Saturday night, the city’s bookmakers would lose millions of dollars in the biggest single event loss in the history of sports betting.
McGregor fans have ooded sports books with $100 bills backing the mixed martial arts ghter, and even a late surge of money on Mayweather might not be enough to balance the books.
“I’m OK now,” said William Hill oddsmaker Nick Bogdanovich. “But you might want to have a heart moni- tor on me when the bell rings and Conor starts throwing wild lefts.”
Bogdanovich said his chain of sports books will suffer multimillion dollar losses — their worst ever — should McGregor win the ght in any fashion. If he wins early as he has promised, the losses would be even worse.
The big bettors are putting their money on Mayweather, who is 49-0 as a pro. But so many McGregor fans are betting small amounts that the betting slips at William Hill were 18-1 in the Irish ghter’s favor.
“This isn’t professional money, just the regular Joe,” Bogdanovich said. “The butcher and the barber are putting their $100 on McGregor and it’s added up.”
The action is re ected in the odds, which bookmakers adjust either way as money comes in on the two ghters. Bookmakers have been lowering the odds steadily since the ght was announced, but even that hasn’t stopped the deluge of McGregor bets.
A ght that began with Mayweather an 11-1 favorite is now 5-1 or even less in some sports books. Even that hasn’t stopped McGregor supporters from lining up at the betting windows to hand over even more cash.