So the main article topic isnt surprising, but this really jumped out at me: It would also prohibit the Department of the Treasury from taking extraordinary measures to postpone a debt crisis. This suggests strongly that they will not even be satisfied with the (unacceptable) concessions proposed, and are looking to make sure the hostage cannot slip their grasp the next time they do this. When will that be? The measure would fund the government until mid-January and raise the debt ceiling until early February. Hmmm. Think theyll demand more then? Bet on it. Im increasingly convinced that the GOP intends to govern by hostage crisis for the foreseeable future. Every crisis will be an opportunity to demand more things from their wishlist, so the more the better. I dont agree with calling them terrorists, but the logic of why we dont negotiate with terrorists absolutely applies. If this is a winning strategy, we can expect them to repeat it. One option that allows us to have a compromise that is final in any sense was actually proposed by Senate Minority Leader McConnell (R): give the Executive Branch the power to raise the debt-ceiling unless congress passes a bill to stop it. This avoids future brinkmanship on the issue because it would take veto-proof congressional support to get it done. Congress already controls the budget so it seems to me that the debt-ceiling is largely a duplicate authorization of that spending anyway.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 05:04:50 +0000
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