Shutdown Countdown, Armageddon Edition, Con't

Kevin McCarthy and the House GOP Circus of the Damned are running the psyop that they can pass a budget with no Democratic votes and force the Senate and Joe Biden to accept trillions in cuts that would tank the economy even worse than defaulting on the national debt.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his top lieutenants say they are actively preparing to move a party-line bill to raise the national debt limit if President Joe Biden continues to draw a firm line against talks with House Republicans to avoid the nation’s first-ever default.

The move would be a risky one. The GOP can only afford to lose four votes on any partisan plan, and thorny fiscal issues have long divided their party. House passage of a party-line bill would be difficult in the Democratic-led Senate where 60 votes would be needed to advance such a package.

But Republican leaders believe that their weeks of internal talks with the various ideological factions – known as the GOP’s five families – could produce a bill that would pass the House along party lines. And if the White House won’t negotiate, they believe they can put pressure on the Senate and Biden by passing a bill that would raise the debt ceiling and include budget cuts.

“I’m confident we can get there if we needed to,” Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, whom McCarthy selected to lead the internal GOP talks, said of a Republican-only bill.

Speaking to CNN and a small group of reporters, Graves said that moving a GOP bill is “absolutely an option on the table.”

McCarthy was even more bullish.

“Yes,” McCarthy said when asked if he believed Republicans would have the votes to approve a debt ceiling plan on their own.

“I think the markets will be excited here that one entity here is taking action,” McCarthy told reporters on Thursday.

Republicans say their first choice is to negotiate a deal with the White House.

“Mr. President, I’m ready anytime at any moment. I’ll come tonight,” McCarthy said, adding he would bring lunch or “would make it soft food if that’s what he wants.”

But Biden has called on the House GOP to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling without any conditions or strings attached to avoid the prospects of fiscal calamity, pointing to Congress approving a borrowing limit suspension three times under then-President Donald Trump. But this time, House Republicans say a clean debt ceiling hike simply won’t happen, given the mountain of debt the country faces.

The problem is McCarthy doesn't have to votes to pass this or any other bill with just Republican votes, and everyone knows it.  That's why the Biden White House is staying put.  If McCarthy actually could get the votes for this, he would have done it already and tole Biden that this was the new reality.

But that won't happen.  So we wait until McCarthy figures this out. The problem of course is that McCarthy is very stupid, and a miscalculation could lead to economic collapse. McCarthy's not bright enough to go to Biden himself and work this out, then getting Hakeem Jeffries to save his ass.

The odds of a default and economic catastrophe are extremely high, because the GOP side is run by idiots.