At a closed-door meeting Friday morning, GOP leaders turned to their most trusted budget expert, Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, to explain to rank-and-file members what many others have come to understand: A fiscal meltdown could occur if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling.
House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio underscored the point to dispel the notion that failure to allow more borrowing is an option.
"He said if we pass Aug. 2, it would be like 'Star Wars,'" said Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a freshman from Tennessee. "I don't think the people who are railing against raising the debt ceiling fully understand that."
The Washington Post follows up with this:
Key elements for a big deal remain in place. Obama has been clear that he wants one and has started making the case to skeptical factions of his own party that getting the nation’s fiscal house in order is in their best interest. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) also remains committed to an ambitious plan, having told his troops that he didn’t become speaker to do small things. And, perhaps most critically, the markets are demanding it. The credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s says Washington must agree to reduce the debt by $4 trillion over 10 years to avert a downgrade.
“We cannot as a country fail to deal with the debt threat,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), one of the bipartisan “Gang of Six” senators who tried to reach an agreement in recent months. “Every serious economic analysis tells us we’ve reached the danger zone. And just kicking the can down the road? That can’t be. We’re better than that. We’ve got to be better than that.”
And the NY Times finishes the trifecta with this story:
With the Aug. 2 deadline looming, Mr. Obama says a default would have calamitous consequences, jeopardizing the timely payment of Social Security benefits and driving up interest rates for the government and private borrowers alike.
Some Republicans say they do not worry much about being punished by their constituents for playing hardball with their votes on the debt limit and thus pushing the nation to the brink of default. And besides, they doubt that the consequences of a default would be as dire as Mr. Obama and many economists say.
Representative Jeff Landry, a freshman Republican from Louisiana, said, “I don’t believe, if we fail to raise the debt ceiling, that we will default.” Even if the debt ceiling is reached, Mr. Landry said, the government has more than enough revenue coming in each month to pay principal and interest on the debt.
Senator Patrick J. Toomey, a freshman Republican from Pennsylvania, said a delay in raising the debt limit need not cause a default because the Treasury secretary could set priorities in paying government obligations. Many Republicans would give priority to Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits and paychecks for the armed forces. The Obama administration rejects that approach as unworkable.
All of these stories have the same general framework: the House GOP leadership is resigned to raising the debt ceiling by coming to a deal with the Dems, but the people standing in the way of that deal are the House Republican freshmen, driven by Tea Party ideology.
In other words, if this blows up in America's face, it's the Republicans' fault. Specifically, it's the Tea Party's fault. Not only is the Village love affair with the Tea Party clearly over, but these guys are clearly being set up to take the fall if they blast a hole in the side of our economy and we take on water.
I've long said that the debt ceiling would be raised, period. Only when Obama became President did it become a problem. Only when the Tea Party gained power did it become a problem. The Village is now strongly hinting that the Republicans are responsible for this mess, and that's making the GOP leadership very, very nervous.
So when a deal comes, what will the Tea Party do? Will we start seeing plans for a third party that splits the Republicans?
One could hope.
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