I like this new GOP debt-ceiling strategy
Now the House Republicans seem to be emerging from their Williamsburg retreat with a united approach to the debt ceiling issue. Raise the debt ceiling for three months and couple it with a cutoff of congressional pay if the Democratic-majority Senate fails to pass a budget, as it has for the last three years.
This is similar to the approach advocated by former Bush budget negotiator Keith Hennessey: Give Democrats an alternative between short-term debt limit increases with no immediate spending cuts and a long-term increase with serious spending cuts.
Senate Democrats are a more attractive target than the president. The NBC/WSJ poll shows only 16 percent with positive feelings toward Majority Leader Harry Reid and 28 percent with negative feelings…
But just as peacenik Democrats learned that the public will not tolerate cutting off defense spending when troops are in the field, so Tea Party Republicans seem to be learning that the public won’t tolerate defaulting on the national debt.
Blowback
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What new debt ceiling strategy? The one where the GOP gets a linguini spine of a different color?
How about we just wait and see if the GOP wants to live or die. If they screw this up, the base is gone and likely will never return.
platypus on January 21, 2013 at 9:03 PM
Seems like a decent strategy. I’m not a big fan of Boehner or McConnell, but my gosh Obama just won. We can only get so much. We will NOT get entitlement reform or any meaningful cuts. We have to set things up in a way that the public can actually see that we aren’t the party of no, or extremist or whatever the media says we are. It won’t necessarily be good for the country short term because we’ll still slide into debt,but hopefully by 2016 it will pay off. Then once in power, they better dang sure get to reforming/cutting.
Donald Draper on January 21, 2013 at 9:36 PM
How much effort will it take to get nothing? Or worse than nothing? Because that’s what we’re going to get with Boehner and McConnell at the helm.
besser tot als rot on January 21, 2013 at 11:48 PM
Bah
A bunch of weenies. The best fiscal move is to shut. it. down.
That yields a 45% reduction in spending, which seems about right.
Although it is already too late, in fact since a 5% increase in interest rate on the debt will consume ALL fed receipts.
BioBob on January 22, 2013 at 12:43 AM
Giving the president exactly what he wants makes this guy a fan? The republicans should just declare themselves dems and get it over with.
Panther on January 22, 2013 at 6:23 AM