In the end, it was actually all nothing but theatrical bullshit. Faced with a suddenly unified Democratic party with a spine, and a ticking clock, Yertl the Turtle rolled over on his shell. The Democrats will be allowed to suspend the debt ceiling until mid December, with no GOP support.
Why now? Personally I was surprised, I thought he’d drag it out another week yet to see if the Democrats would cave and do it his way. Ever since Inauguration day McConnell has consistently underestimated the chops of these new Democrats. And as a result, he has consistently had to cave and retreat. But in the last 24 hours, McConnell saw something that scared him shitless. Actually, two somethings.
Yesterday was the weekly closed door Democratic Senate caucus lunch. When it broke up, and Senators started talking, there was rare Democratic unity. The entire caucus was united in their disgust for, and fury at Mitch McConnell for playing chicken with the debt limit. Even the dreaded words filibuster reform were uttered. And last night, when asked by a reporter if the Democrats would consider a filibuster carve out for the debt limit, Biden responded, Hell yes! It’s on the table.
This morning got worse for McConnell. Both Manchin and Sinema were cornered by reporters and asked directly if they would vote for a debt limit carve out. While both continued to express broad support for the filibuster, neither would come right out and say that they would vote against carving out an exception in the filibuster for the debt limit. Two hours later McConnell folded like a pair of 3’s.
McConnell badly overplayed his hand this time, and may have ensured his ultimate defeat. What’s my Irish Catholic mantra? In order to keep your faith intact, make sure it stays unsullied by fact. Once those scales start falling from your eyes, you can never glue them back on again. Manchin was already showing signs of wavering after the GOP unanimously moved to filibuster the watered down version of the voting rights act he personally engineered. But yesterday, for the first time, it was McConnell who managed to get all 50 Democratic Senators actually seriously discussing filibuster reform.
We may not have long to wait. By mid November, the debt ceiling is going to come up again, and it is highly likely that McConnell will pull the same lame shit again. And if he does, Schumer and Biden have an ironclad case for the Democrats to stop wasting time, and just reform the filibuster for the debt limit. And if they do, why not just go ahead and reform it for civil rights or voting bills, so Manchin’s voting rights bill can pass? Done properly, it could also be a vehicle for the George Floyd bill to finally get through the Senate.
McConnell has been miscalculating for almost a year now. He has spent so many years pulling the football away from Charlie Brown that he doesn’t seem to realize that every time he does it now, Charlie Brown keeps kicking Lucy in the ass. How fitting if his debt limit games becomes the thing that finally takes away his most cherished football, the filibuster.
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I have said this numerous times. I’m going to say it again. McConnell was never anything better than a middle manager on his best day. And ever since he fell and broke his shoulder a couple of years ago, his worst days seem to keep topping themselves. Whatever political acumen he had is gone. It’s too stuck in the past to have much of a future.
I agree whole heartedly! But the thing about McConnell is that he was totally obsessed by power. For a while there, I called him Gollum, constantly lusting after His Precioussssss. But McConnell doesn’t seem to realize that this new Democratic senate has a spine it never had before…And he keeps falling on his sword…
I’ve seen suggestions – possibly here – that they raise the debt limit by a whole lot, like enough to cover the budget for several years, and make the GQP vote to choose between going for broke and going broke.
And there is another one which could be passed without the filibuster that would turn raising the debt ceiling back over to the President…The congress coud object
Oh, how great to see all of this! All of the good people looking good and the horse’s butts are getting theirs.
They lost their way…They are so obsessed with purity and culture wars that they are incapable of responding to immediate issues…There will be an article coming out about that one…
One thing I’ve noticed as a follower of the ratings on Progressive Punch is that we elected a crop of more progressive Senators and congresspeople last year. There are no few than four newbies in the Senate top 10; Ed Markey has even been dethroned from his stronghold on the #1 slot (by Alex Padilla). Bernie’s been booted from the top 10 entirely (he’s at 12 now) by Ossoff, Warnock and Lujan. Four of the House top ten are newbies too, with Marie Newman leading the way (what an upgrade from the odious rightwing Dan Lipinsky!!!)
Yep, I believe he finally did it. I certainly hope so.