If the bill raising the Debt Ceiling cobbled together by President Biden and Speaker McCarthy passes through the House today, and the United States sidesteps a catastrophic default on it’s debts, which I expect it will, it will pass despite the best efforts of the ultimate political arsonist, Dortard J. Drumpf and his most committed (and most likely to be committed) minions in the Congress who would rather see the nation burn to ashes at their feet than to have a school lunch provided to a child that does not have one.
Drumpf has made it clear that a default on the debt is central to his quest to return to power… damn the consequences. But Kevin McCarthy seems unwilling to light the match that will make that happen. That he has found an ally in Joe Biden that is willing to modestly take a win without spiking the football is a relief…
“For weeks, conservative Republicans warned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy not to back down from sweeping spending cuts, saying anything else would be an unforgivable betrayal. Liberals implored President Biden to abandon the debt ceiling talks altogether, insisting the Constitution enabled him to simply ignore Republican demands.
But in the end, the two leaders opted for a middle-of-the-road settlement, aiming to coalesce center-right and center-left lawmakers around the idea that an imperfect deal was preferable to a historic default that could devastate the economy. It was the first significant test for the Biden-McCarthy era of divided government, and if a theme emerged, it was the unmistakable reassertion of the political center.
“Both sides were initially sounding very ardent about an inflexible position,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. “Yet both sides ultimately blinked — and that is what American politics is all about.”
To be clear, Kevin McCarthy will do almost anything except reduce the economy to debris to placate his erstwhile supporters in the knucklehead caucus, as Tom Nichols of The Bulwark calls it…
"It's not that they will collapse the economy because intend to, but because they're a bunch of knuckleheads playing with flamethrowers." McCarthy (and Biden) stepped in, and they did it.@RadioFreeTom on the latest Bulwark Podcast with @SykesCharlie: https://t.co/Q6sFPaHAIb pic.twitter.com/fd1GnjMESY
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) May 31, 2023
… and we should expect a spate of Anti-Democratic, regressive, and, frankly evil, bills sponsored by the far right Republicans in response to its passage, as the extract their revenge on the nation that have not yet managed to destroy.
And yet, it is a lousy compromise, and just enough Democrats show their displeasure by voting against it without ultimately starting the conflagration themselves:
“The House is not very different from when I was there,” said Shalanda Young, a key negotiator for the White House and a longtime House aide, told reporters Tuesday. “You have to have some faith in the governing majority, which I do, because I have a lot of respect for members on both sides of the aisle to do what’s best for the American people. And that is not some Pollyanna-ish thing. I know them, and I’ve always thought we could get here if we let the extreme go away.”
I think Ms. Young is correct, for the moment at least we have just enough Republicans unwilling to destroy our economy for the sake of drumpf’s electoral advantage to avert utter devastation.
Which is why the two year extension is a critical part of the deal.
The flamethrowers will be back.
Why is God’s name would ANYONE listen to DJT?? He needs to be dealt with…like putting duct tape over his f’n mouth! The man is repulsive, can’t stand to look at him or hear his disgusting mouth. Ok, I digress!!
Ok…here’s a dirty little secret as to why the rich Republicans don’t want to burn it to the ground…they would lose a ton of money in their portfolios for DECADES. The USA would not recover doing something, never done before, that destroyed our credit rating. Sure poor folks, like myself, living on social security would also be in the shitter. However, if you add up all my monthly payments until I die, it would be chump change to these fascists. These nazis in the house are trying to light the fuse to blow up the country, creating an opportunity for a fascist takeover, like the Great Depression fueled Hitler’s rise to total power. Of course, since they are delusional and dark Brandon is not, he’s hogtied them with help from THEIR party. Beautiful. Not bad for an 80 year old political poker champion! You go Joe!
If you want to know whether a deal between the two different parties is a good one all you have to know is that both sides do not like it. To me that indicates both sides had to give up something which in our current political climate wasn’t a slam dunk. Sure, it still isn’t a done deal yet but I have hope. A little bit at least.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.
But this debt ceiling hostage stuff is no way to run a country and I hope the Dems figure out a way to prevent it happening again.
The Democrats can’t do a goddamn thing to fix anything until they have a true majority in both houses and can fix the most corrupt lawmaking court in the land…the so called Supreme Court. The only Supremes I believe in were in Motown in the 60s. I wish ‘Stop In The Name Of Love’ worked. It doesn’t.