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Laura Barron-Lopez: President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are locked in a high-stakes standoff over raising the nation's debt with weeks to go before the federal government is unable to pay its bills. The two men have challenged each other for months as the deadline draws near with the president calling for a clean increase to the debt limit and a separate GOP budget plan, while Speaker McCarthy has called on President Biden to negotiate now over spending cuts.

And on Wednesday, McCarthy notched a symbolic win when his debt ceiling and spending cuts bill passed in the House, albeit along party lines and by two votes. A buoyant McCarthy spoke to reporters after the vote.

Kevin McCarthy: We lifted the debt limit. The Democrats need to do their job. The president can no longer ignore by not negotiating.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Republicans hope the bill's passing will increase pressure on the president to meet with the speaker, but Senate Democrats made clear that Speaker McCarthy's bill is, quote, dead on arrival in the upper chamber. And when asked by reporters if he would negotiate with McCarthy over the debt limit, President Biden did not budge.

Joe Biden: I'm happy to meet with McCarthy but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended. That is not negotiable.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Joining us to discuss this and more, Dan Balz, the chief correspondent at The Washington Post, John Bresnahan, a co-founder of Punchbowl News, Mario Parker, the White House and Politics Editor for Bloomberg News, and Melanie Zanona, Capitol Hill Reporter for CNN. Thank you for being here.

I think it is important first to establish first the stakes for this conversation. If the country defaults on its debt, here is what would happen, we would quickly lose about one million jobs, there's a possibility of a recession, the credit rating for the country tanks, which would be followed by increasing interest rates, likely cuts to Medicare and social security benefits and military paychecks delayed. That's not everything that would happen. That's a number of the possible catastrophic things that would.

John, Republicans made clear with this bill that they are not going to agree to a clean debt limit increase. They want spending cuts. But this bill does not specify the spending cuts that they really want. Is this a serious proposal to balance the budget?

John Bresnahan, Co-Founder, Punchbowl News: It is and it isn't. It is both at the same time because they are calling for pretty dramatic spending cuts. They want to bring back, they want to return spending to the F.Y. 2022 level, two years ago, it's $130 billion less than we're spending now, than the government is spending now. So, it is a pretty dramatic cut.

And they don't want to cut the Pentagon, and they don't want to cut veteran spending, they say. So, they are going to cut everything else that is called non-defense discretionary. This is the interior department, the commerce department, the labor department. They're going make pretty -- to get to where they want, they are going to have to have huge cuts to those agencies. It's never going to happen.

This is what they are calling for. This is what their opening position is in this debate, and they want to force Biden to kind of talk on their ground where they are talking about spending cuts, caps, cuts. They don't want to talk about spending more money or raising taxes. They want to talk about cutting spending in as dramatic a way as they can.

Laura Barron-Lopez: And if they actually even achieve it, there are economists who say that those cuts themselves could potentially send the country into a recession.

But, Mario, I want to ask you about the White House, because right now, they aren't changing their tune. The president is not changing his tune. So, what are you hearing about how they are going to respond to this GOP bill?

Mario Parker, White House and Politics Editor, Bloomberg News: Yes. Well, the pressure is starting to build on the White House, right? They thought that they had the upper hand, particularly through the lens of what we saw in January, the number of votes that it needed, the number of times they had to vote in order for Speaker McCarthy to get the gavel.

Well, the gambit is starting to backfire slightly on the White House. You are seeing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce come out and urged Biden to meet with McCarthy. You are seeing a little bit of lackluster responses from folks like Josh Gottheimer. You are seeing the business roundtable apply pressure also.

And don't forget, President Biden's talking point prior to the passage of the bill in the House had been, well, show me something, they don't have anything. Well, now, they do. And so now, the onus is on the president to at least start to be open to speaking with McCarthy, lest he get viewed as the one who is being an extremist in this situation.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Melanie, say that the top congressional leaders, McCarthy included, reach a deal with President Biden, it's going to be nothing like what was just passed, to John's point. So, can Kevin McCarthy get all of his Republicans to support a deal with Democrats?

Melanie Zanona, Capitol Hill Reporter, CNN: That is the big question, and he's going to have to get those Republicans on board. He might not need their votes if he cuts a Democratic deal, because you can pass something if you have Democratic votes in the House, but he needs them for his speakership. Because they have made clear, the right flank, that they do not want anything watered down in their opinions of what they already past. They have this tool known as the motion vacate, which the ability to essentially force a vote to oust the sitting speaker, they are threatening to use that if they don't get what they want. So, that is hanging over McCarthy's head.

And that is why it's going to be challenge to -- I can't even imagine what this deal would like, to be honest, that something that all the Democrats can support and all the Republicans can support and that they could actually pass. So, they are starting to think about what that would look like, like what can Kevin McCarthy get, because, right now, it's hard enough to get even this conservative wish list past through the House.

Laura Barron-Lopez: I mean, do we even known -- based on what you know about McCarthy's leadership style, do you think he is interested in a deal with Democrats, one that could bring conservatives along?

Melanie Zanona: Yes, I actually do. I think he absolutely wants to get this done. He does not want to default on his hands, either. He recognizes the stakes as well. And even though they're starting to feel confident that wouldn't get the blame, no one really knows how it is going to shake out. I do think they want a solution, but he's very cognizant of these different competing dynamics that he has to deal with.

Laura Barron-Lopez: And, Dan, you have said you think that passage of this GOP bill could actually escalate the possibility that we hit the brink, that we could potentially get closer to the fiscal cliff. Why do you think that is?

Dan Balz, Chief Correspondent, The Washington Post: Well, I think the two sides are still so far apart and they are both done in on their respective positions. And I think that we are going to get closer and closer to the brink before there is some movement toward a negotiation. I think, inevitably, President Biden will get drawn into this. I don't quite know when and how it will happen. I have no idea what the deal would be that would put it together.

We have to remember, in 2011, we went through a similar process with a president who was starting his re-election campaign, Barack Obama. And in that case, the vice president, Joe Biden, did a lot of negotiating on both raising the debt ceiling and cutting spending. He was there at the beginning of those negotiations and when they blew up and they had to cut a very messy deal in the end, he was there to help bring that together. So, he has been through this.

And there is something at stake for him in this that I think relates to his 2024 re-election campaign, which is this is an early moment of definition for him and the Republican Party. And if he plays this smartly and well, he comes out perhaps stronger. But if this thing blows up and the economy tanks, that is going to hurt him as well as the Republicans. So, I think it behooves him to think about whether there is a way to get into negotiations that can produce a deal, but this is a more challenging Republican Party to negotiate with than even that tea party of 2011, as John well knows.

Laura Barron-Lopez: So, you think that there is risk, though, for both Republicans as well as President Biden?

Dan Balz: Absolutely, yes.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Bres, you -- Punchbowl talked to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer about what passed through the House by Kevin McCarthy. And he thinks that this bill could potentially be heading the country towards a default as well. So, is he standing by President Biden? Is he standing by the position that the White House holds that you don't negotiate with Republicans on this?

John Bresnahan: Oh, absolutely. I think the Hill Democrats are even harsher on this than the White House is. I mean, I have talked to folks in the west wing, and they are like maybe we can get to the table if McCarthy passes this bill when they were trying to put it together, and now, they were talking about -- you know, they are under pressure from Jeffries and Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Schumer, not at this moment to negotiate.

I do think it is fascinating, though, Democrats -- and we were talking about -- Mel and I were talking about this before. In the last day, I have gotten two Senate Democrats to call me and be like, what does McCarthy really want, like they are not talking to each other. They are really -- I mean, we're four months into this Congress and they are still kind of just --

Laura Barron-Lopez: The Senate Democrats aren't talking to McCarthy?

John Bresnahan: And McCarthy is not talking to them. I mean, they're not talking to each other. And it's amazing to me that there is so little discussion and we could be hitting this default day, the X date, they call it, in a couple weeks. It could be June, it could be July. We don't actually know yet. But it is fascinating that they don't have a read on him at all, really, what does he have to have to make a deal. And I think that is a huge problem.

And then beyond that, they have no idea what is happening in the House Republican conference. They really don't. A lot of these members are new. They have not dealt with him before. Biden does not know them, The White House doesn't them. Schumer does not know them. So, I mean, it's a real -- I mean, we could blunder our way into a worse situation than 2011 very easily. I mean, they could just keep talking past each other and we could find ourselves on the verge of a default.

Laura Barron-Lopez: But as Mario said, the White House is facing some more pressure potentially from this bill to come to the table. I mean, do you -- are you hearing any additional pressure coming from Democrats now towards the White House to negotiate?

John Bresnahan: I mean, there are some moderate Democrats interested.

Melanie Zanona: Just like rank and file Democrats.

John Bresnahan: Yes, you're talking about Gottheimer. Joe Manchin has been very vocal about this. I do think they will -- you know, the House is out for a week. I think they will go back home. I think they'll start to hear more from folks on Main Street.

This is starting to percolate a little bit into Main Street. It had not really yet. I think Wall Street has started to really pay attention to this. I mean, you are seeing insurance on a possible default going up, the cost of that going up. So, I think people are starting to pay attention to it because, really, they -- I mean, we are four months into this Congress and there has been very little movement until this week, until this vote. So, finally, there is something, but both sides are still kind of just staring at each other.

Mario Parker: And to John's point, yes, this is starting to emanate outside of Washington, right? We were all kind of watching the politics of it. But when you start talking about things like delayed social security payments, Medicaid, Medicare beneficiaries, higher interest rates just on your mortgage or your car loans, those are the type of things that get constituents calling their representatives, and you don't want those calls if you are a representative.

Dan Balz: And the economy is in a fragile spot, right? And it is not as though this is a robust economy that could take a bit of a shock. There's so much nervousness that what we saw with the banking industry. Jobs market looks strong still, but in all other ways, if we got the kind of jolt that we are talking about or even come close, it's going to set off some real concerns.

Laura Barron-Lopez: And do you think that -- you mentioned 2011 and us reaching the fiscal cliff there. Do you think this is a 2011-level scenario?

Dan Balz: I think it could be worse in part what you have been talking about, which is there is no communication, there is no understanding. I mean, the only thing I can think of, and you all might have a better sense of this than I do, is that the relationship between the president and Mitch McConnell may be a back-doorway into something. But I think we are a ways away from that. I think there's a lot of brinkmanship yet to happen.

Laura Barron-Lopez: And, Melanie, you mentioned the possibility of Democrats providing votes in the House to get past this. Do you have any sense of if Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is actually going to want to do this, to give votes?

Melanie Zanona: As of today, they are holding their position that there are going to be no negotiations and just a clean debt ceiling hike. But I think the closer we get to that X date, and we should be getting more information next week about what that X date, I think the closer we get to that, we might start to see some movement there.

Laura Barron-Lopez: And I just want to ask again, I mean, the stakes of this, John, is there any sense that lawmakers really are feeling it, are feeling how close we could come to the brink?

John Bresnahan: I know Mel and I talk to these guys all the time. There's a large part of the House Republican conference that does not believe a default is a real crisis, that we can pay our interest on the debt, we can make enough payments to keep -- the default is not real, that's a phony funny thing, and I think this is extraordinarily dangerous.

And like you said, 2011, in 2011, John Boehner was the speaker, and he at least had a relationship with Biden. He knew not so much President Obama at that point, but he knew Biden and there was McConnell and the debt was a lot smaller than what we are talking about. But I can remember sitting outside in office in 2011 and Boehner came out and he had been talking to the tea party guys, and he is like, I can't talk to these guys. He's telling the reporters this.

I think it is worse now. I mean, McCarthy barely survived by the skin of his teeth, and at that point, Boehner was still viable. I mean, McCarthy barely got there. So, I do think he wants to govern appropriately, but I do -- can he survive this? I'm not entirely sure.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Can his speakership survive this, right, yes.

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Congress still deadlocked on debt ceiling as Democrats declare ... - PBS

US economy

Congress appears to be facing its biggest debt standoff in years and the consequences of default could be disastrous

Sun 30 Apr 2023 03.00 EDT

Angry at the size of the government debt, House Republicans have passed a bill that ties spending cuts to any lifting of the USs debt limit. A tense fight is escalating, with Democrats refusing to budge and hardline Republicans digging in. Without a solution, economists and others warn, the US could be plunged into an economic catastrophe.

You can be forgiven a sense of deja vu. This has all happened before. Only this time, it could be worse.

The federal government has a legal maximum on how much debt it can accumulate often called the debt ceiling or the debt limit. Congress has to vote to raise that limit and has done so 78 times since 1960 often without fuss. But in recent years, the debt negotiations have become Washingtons most heated and potentially dangerous debate.

This years fight looks like the most high-risk one since 2011, when Republicans used the debt limit debate as a bargaining chip for spending cuts. It was a fight to the bitter end. One former congressman told the New York Times that the battle drew parallels and distinctions with other tumultuous times such as the civil war.

With stock markets reeling and 72 hours left before the US would have defaulted on its debts, a disaster that threatened to wreak havoc on the economy, Republicans and Democrats finally agreed on a bill that raised the debt ceiling by $900bn and cut spending by nearly the same amount.

For Republicans, particularly the new rightwing Tea Party members who refused to budge even as default loomed, it was a political win.

Politics are once again deeply embedded in this years debt ceiling debate and many see a mirroring of the debt ceiling crisis of 2011.

The House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, is caught between his partys moderate and far-right factions. Though McCarthy rallied his party behind a House bill, Democrats are so far refusing to negotiate.

The US treasury is already running on fumes. In January, the treasury started using extraordinary measures to avoid defaulting on US debts while the debate over raising the limit started. Some estimate that the US governments default date the so-called X date when the government officially runs out of funds to pay its bills will arrive in late July, giving the GOP and Democrats less than three months to find a solution.

The US has never defaulted on its debt. Failure to find a solution would send stock markets reeling, recipients of federal benefits might not get their monthly checks, parts of government would grind to a halt and long-term damage would be inflicted on the US economy, according to the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell.

Fights over the US debt ceiling are common and usually resolved after a session of bloviating. Wall Street has so far ignored this scrap, betting on a repeat. But, as in 2011, all that could change as the X date approaches. This time the Tea Party Republicans have been replaced by even more hardline politicians the Freedom Caucus who begrudgingly signed on to McCarthys plan but have sworn to hold out for cost cuts no matter the price.

What will damage the economy is what weve seen the last two years: record spending, record inflation, record debt. We already know thats damaging the economy, Representative Jim Jordan, a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, told Reuters.

David Kamin, a New York University law professor who served as an economic adviser to the Obama and Biden administrations, including during the 2011 crisis, said: Congress has negotiated [the debt ceiling] over the many decades that its been in its current form. But what is different about this episode, and the episode in 2011, is the very credible threat from the Republican side to not raise the debt limit, to demand a large set of policy in exchange for a vote. He added: That then sets up a dangerous negotiation where whats at stake is severe repercussions for the economy.

A default would be catastrophic for the US and global economy, creating instability in financial markets and interrupting government services. But, as the 2011 crisis showed, even getting close to default comes with a price. Markets plummeted and the ratings agency S&P downgraded the USs credit rating for the first time in history, making it more expensive for the country to borrow money. The cost to borrow went up $1.3bn the next year and continued to be more expensive years later, essentially offsetting some of the negotiations cost-cutting measures.

To some economists, that was just the short-term impact. The spending cuts ushered in years of budget tightening with long-lasting impacts.

We were still in a pretty depressed economy and in recovery from the great recession when those cuts were instituted. They just made the recovery last far longer than it should have, said Josh Bivens, chief economist for the Economic Policy Institute, a leftwing thinktank. Over the next six or seven years, really valuable public goods and services were not delivered because they were cut so sharply.

Government spending tends to rise after recessions but per-capita federal spending fell after the debt crisis. Bivens argues that if government spending had continued at its normal levels, the unemployment rate would have returned to its pre-recession level five or six years before 2017, when the job market finally recovered its losses.

This time the Republican bill, called the Limit, Save and Grow Act, would increase the debt ceiling by $1.5tn in exchange for $1.47tn in cuts during the next fiscal year and a 1% spending increase cap thereafter. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would cut federal spending by $4.8tn over the next 10 years.

The bill would mean cuts to things like defense, education and social services over time, though Republicans have outlined few specific cuts in the bill. House Republicans are proposing scrapping Joe Bidens student relief program, making more stringent work requirements for government benefits, namely Medicaid, and rolling back several Inflation Reduction Act investments, particularly clean energy tax credits.

The IRS would lose $71bn in funding under the new bill, a move that would lead to more lenient tax collection and ultimately cost the federal government $120bn over the next decade. Republicans have been targeting the IRS for budget cuts for over a decade, weakening the agencys tax enforcement over corporations and the wealthy and allowing $18bn in lost government revenue, ProPublica estimated in 2018.

While Republicans are using old tricks from 2011, Democrats appear to have learned some lessons from the Obama-era spat. After 2011, the Obama administration refused to negotiate over the debt ceiling. Biden and other Democratic leaders have continued the practice: the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, called the Republican bill dead on arrival when it got to the Senate.

President Biden will never force middle-class and working families to bear the burden of tax cuts for the wealthiest, as this bill does, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said in a statement on Wednesday. Congressional Republicans must act immediately and without conditions to avoid default and ensure that the full faith and credit of the United States is not put at risk.

The question now is: what are the political costs for the Democrats and Republicans? As the crisis deepens, how long will they hold and who will fold?

Despite Republicans preaching fiscal discipline, US debt actually rose by $7.8tn under the Trump administration. Spending cuts would also probably target GOP-friendly expenditures. The party has already had to make a tough compromise over ethanol tax credits, which were ultimately left untouched at the behest of Corn Belt Republican lawmakers. And McCarthy still lost four Republican votes, the most he can afford to lose with the Republicans slim House majority. He has little room to compromise even if he can get Biden to negotiate.

Matt Gaetz, a Republican representative from Florida and another Freedom Caucus member, voted against McCarthys bill and said in a statement that it would increase Americas debt by $16tn over the next 10 years.

Gaslighting nearly $50tn in debt to America is something my conscious [sic] cannot abide at this time, Gaetz said.

Kamin pointed out that Republicans only focus on the debt ceiling as a leverage point when there is a Democratic president the debt ceiling was raised three times during Trumps presidency showing that their objective is less about actually reducing the deficit than it is about playing politics.

The Republican party at least elements of the Republican party have organized themselves using this as a litmus test for adherence to their beliefs and are really focused on it as a central element of their agenda, Kamin said. But the fight is not fundamentally about deficits and debt, he said. It is a fight about politics.

As in 2011, the two sides are locked in a game of chicken and waiting for the opposition to cave. If neither side blinks, the impact on the economy will be felt for years to come.

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Danger and deja vu: what 2011 can tell us about the US debt ceiling crisis - The Guardian

We are nearing a crash into the debt ceiling, the most tangible threat to the full faith and credit of the United States in our lifetimes. But unless youre paying close attention, you might not know why default is a genuine threat, nor why this crisis is really happening.

The problem is that much of the press coverage reflects neither the direness of the situation nor the reality of whose actions are actually threatening default. Most of the stories published in the mainstream media in the last few days have been about House Speaker Kevin McCarthys ability to get his plan through the House. The stories before that were largely about why President Joe Biden has not met with McCarthy to negotiate, or when he will hold the meeting. But to treat this as a normal political negotiation, or as one where both sides are equally at fault, is to distort reality.

Take, for example, how the story was covered last Thursday by Politicos Playbook, a daily newsletter read widely every morning by the political and journalistic establishments. Playbooks reporting on House Republicans passage of their debt ceiling plan was basically a paean to McCarthys adroitness in eking out a one-vote victory and speculation about the future of his speakership. There was nothing on what was in the billnothing about how radical and cynical it is. (More on that in a moment.)

Or take this New York Times report from Thursday covering the options now faced by Biden, focusing largely on tactics, as if this were a normal and typical negotiationone where Biden is not cooperating because he wont meet with McCarthy to do the horsetrading necessary to reach a deal.

To be sure, both Politico and the Times have covered this issue in depth elsewhere. And there are other mainstream outlets that have offered blunt, accurate reporting and analysis.

But the tendency to slide into familiar journalistic rutsto focus on the mechanics of dealmaking rather than on what makes the situation historically abnormal and dangerousmust be constantly resisted.

How radical is the proposal that House Republicans passed? You can read the bill for yourself here, but Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell summarized it well: Under the plan, most overall nondefense discretionary spending would be slashed by nearly one-third on average in 2024, after adjusting for inflation. The cuts would then expand to roughly 59 percent, on average, by 2033, according to estimates from both the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Center for American Progress.

How cynical is the Republican proposal? It was not passed with any expectation that it would become law, since everyone knows that the Democratic-led Senate and the Democratic president would not allow that to happen. It is a complete nonstarter. Which means that the GOP is using the possibility of devastating cuts to programs on which millions of Americans relyeviscerating crucial public services and safety net protectionsas a kind of symbolic gesture for the purposes of negotiation.

How historically extreme is the Republican proposal? Of course, we have seen politicians take that kind of stance in the past, only to cut the necessary deals. Ronald Reagan, when governor of California, took a hardline stance over budget negotiationsonly to compromise and say, That sound you hear is the concrete cracking around my feet. But Reagan was a more traditional politician, unlike todays radical House Republicans like Bob Good, Ralph Norman, Matt Gaetz, Scott Perry, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and dozens more. They have already signaled that if McCarthy compromises to dilute the proposalthe proposal that, again, cannot pass but that McCarthy promised them was a bottom line, a floor not a ceilingthey will punish him.

In 2011, the United States came close to breaching the debt ceiling. Egged on by House Republican leaders Kevin McCarthy and Eric Cantor, Tea Party lawmakers pushed President Barack Obama with a series of demands, holding the debt limit hostage right to the brink, until Speaker John Boehner rescued Americas full faith and credit. But the consequences of the near miss were still severe. Americas credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history, and the resulting rise in interest rates cost taxpayers billions of dollars in the years that followed.

Boehners heroic action was not exactly popular with his GOP colleagues; it was the harbinger of the end of his speakership. And four years later, the Tea Party movement was supplanted by a new organization in the House, the Freedom Caucus, formed because the existing right-wing caucus, the Republican Study Committee that dated back to the 1970s, was not extreme enough. Today, the Freedom Caucus is driving the House agenda, with Speaker McCarthy following, not leading.

There is another historical analogy to consider besides 2011one that also illustrates the recklessness of House Republican on fiscal matters. In late 2008, with the devastating financial collapse, President George W. Bush sent Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke, the Treasury secretary and Fed chairman, to Capitol Hill with the message that without a massive bailout of financial institutions we would face a global depression. All congressional leaders in both parties agreed, as did the two presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. But despite personal lobbying by Bush, House Republicans killed the plan on the House floor. Only after a precipitous drop in the Dow did they relent.

And they were moderates compared to todays House Republican radicalssomething McCarthy knows full well. It would only take one member to call for a vote on his speakership, and four or five defections would doom him.

But far more than McCarthys speakership is at stake. A hard core of the House GOP extremists would be fine with a default.

For many, blowing up government would make the price of economic chaos worth it.

For others, the likelihood that a default would be blamed more on the president makes it a tempting ploy.

Andto come back to where we startedthe likelihood that Biden gets blamed is enhanced when the press portrays the issue as a conventional political clash over spending. If this were genuinely about fiscal discipline, Republicans like McCarthy would not have voted three times during the Trump presidency for clean hikes in the debt ceilingas the debt rose by a staggering $7.8 trillion.

Using the debt ceiling as a hostage is not new. But its use as a cudgel, with a core of hardline GOP lawmakers ready and willing to endure a default and a weak speaker of the House unable to stop them, is new and dangerous, and ought be reported that way. If Republicans believe that they will not face the consequences for their recklessness, we are far more likely to go over the cliff and into the first default in American history.

Originally posted here:
Staying Clear-Eyed About Republican Radicalism on the Debt Ceiling - The Bulwark

Staff photo / Bob CouplandKarleigh Thompson, 10, of Warren, left, gets help from her grandmother, Lisa Bhaih of Warren, in preparing a kite for flying at the Kite Festival on Sunday at Austintown Township Park. Proceeds from the event will cover playground equipment at Leonard Kirtz School in Austintown.

AUSTINTOWN Many children, and some adults, from Mahoning and Trumbull counties gathered to fly kites at Austintown Township Park on Sunday as part of a fundraiser to get handicapped-accessible and other special playground equipment for the Leonard Kirtz School.

Dodging a few wet and muddy spots, children ran through the grass to launch their kites into the sky.

Johanna de Blok of Austintown said the event raised money to buy equipment for children with physical handicaps and other special needs at the Leonard Kirtz School playground in Austintown, similar to playground equipment in place at Walnut Grove in Canfield.

It is extremely encouraging to see the community come together for this. Its heartwarming that people are here for such a good cause. To be able to get this for our township makes me very proud, de Blok said.

She and her husband, Juriaan de Blok, brought their children and friends to the kite festival.

Brenda Rider of Austintown, event coordinator, said each child received a free kite, with nearly 400 given away.

Everything for the kids is free. They get a kite and fly them outside in the park or take them home, she said. Everything today was donated to help get the equipment for the playground.

Funds were raised through other activities at the kite festival, including a basket raffle and 50-50 raffle, as well as concessions.

Various other organizations and groups attended, including the Austintown Police Department, which did a drone demonstration. Rider said events like this allow the children to see fire and police staff and their vehicles, and learn they are here to help them.

Gina Rozzo of Austintown brought her daughter, Aria Rozzo, 4, to the event.

We were supposed to go to a tea party at Piccadilly Parlor but I got the times mixed up so we came here instead. I am glad we are here, Gina Rozzo said.

Jessica Coggins of New Springfield brought her daughter, Emma Gustafson, 8, to the event.

I am glad to be able to get her outside for some fun. Too many kids want to stay inside and play on their electronic devices, so this is a nice change, she said.

Chris and Amanda Ruffner of Hubbard brought their children, Ella, 8, and Avery, 6, to the event.

They wanted to fly kites and we went out with the kites and waited for good wind waves for flying them, Chris Ruffner said.

Officials previously said it would cost about $250,000 to construct the playgrounds base with a goal of finishing the first phase in two years.

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Kites take to the sky in Austintown | News, Sports, Jobs - Warren Tribune Chronicle

I grew up in the country, and having cable was not an option. When I was around 13 years old, we got a satellite dish, and my television world opened up.

I do not recall how I first happened upon BBC America, but once I did, I was hooked on all things British. I watched home decorating shows, gardening shows, concerts, Graham Norton basically, anything they aired. I was probably the only teenager in Indiana watching equal amounts of MTV and the BBC.

By the time I got to college, I was ready to study abroad in London and see if the real place matched up to what I saw on television. And for the most part, it did. But television alone could simply not convey the magic of London and how much I loved it. I adored everything about it but I especially loved the deep sense of history. I will never forget riding the Tube and seeing out my window that in one spot the metal wall had been cut away and very old stone was visible. It was labeled Roman Ruins. I could not imagine how they decided to build a Tube station through Roman ruins, but it brings home the point that there is so much significant history in England that they have had to build over some of it.

Of course, we are rapidly approaching another historic event that will be taking place in the United Kingdom the coronation of King Charles III. Though the royal family certainly has a complicated history both personally and through colonialism, they are still a significant piece of British culture. This is also the first coronation that many people have been alive to see after Queen Elizabeth IIs impressive 70-year reign.

At GPL, we will be hosting Coronation Day events throughout the day on May 6. Whether you are a fan of the royal family, there will be something for everyone! Well be hosting a special royal tea party for kids. Our afternoon tea for adults will include some background on the history of tea in the United Kingdom, as well as the opportunity to sample different teas and common afternoon tea food. We will also be hosting crafts in The Studio for both kids (paper crowns to decorate) and adults (no-sew bunting Brits love a good bunting!). Well have a Union Jack-themed wall with fun props where you can take great photos. The Teen Room will be hosting a replay of the coronation. In the childrens department, you can try out marshmallow croquet or make a shield.

I will be here in my best tea party outfit to enjoy the festivities. And afterward, Ill probably be cuddled up with some comforting British television at home, and drift off to sleep with the comforting tones of Mary Berry or Monty Don.

Amber Parsons is an Adult Services Librarian at Greenwood Public Library. GPL staff members share in writing this twice-monthly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to letters@dailyjournal.net.

Link:
GPL Column: Celebrating the coronation of King Charles III - Daily Journal