Last updated on February 7th, 2013 at 03:24 pm
House Republicans are playing right into President Obama hands and setting themselves up for disaster by threatening to default and/or shut down the government.
Politico is reporting that,
GOP officials said more than half of their members are prepared to allow default unless Obama agrees to dramatic cuts he has repeatedly said he opposes. Many more members, including some party leaders, are prepared to shut down the government to make their point. House Speaker John Boehner “may need a shutdown just to get it out of their system,” said a top GOP leadership adviser. “We might need to do that for member-management purposes — so they have an endgame and can show their constituents they’re fighting.”
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Boehner assumes he can ultimately talk members out of default, but he is so wounded and weakened from last month’s tax-hike battle that the speaker might very well be wrong. Obama assumes Republicans would never be so foolish as to put the economy at risk to win a spending fight. Conservatives say he’s definitely wrong on that score. They say he’s the foolish and reckless one for piling up $6 trillion in debt on his watch.
In other words, a weak and worn down John Boehner is the Republican Party’s emergency brake. Boehner is saying that the only way he might be able to get his caucus to agree to do anything is if they shut down the government so that they can feel good about themselves.
President Obama responded to the threat by House Republicans by explaining to the nation who is responsible for raising the debt ceiling, “And, you know, there are no magic tricks here. There are no loopholes. There are no, you know, easy outs. This is a matter of Congress authorizes spending. They order me to spend. They tell me, you need to fund our Defense Department at such- and-such a level, you need to send out Social Security checks, you need to make sure that you are paying to care for our veterans. They lay all this out for me, and — because they have the spending power. And so I am required by law to go ahead and pay these bills. Separately, they also have to authorize a raising of the debt ceiling in order to make sure that those bills are paid. And so what Congress can’t do is tell me to spend X and then say, “But we’re not going to give you the authority to go ahead and pay the bills.”
Speaker Boehner reacted to the the president’s remarks by whistling through the graveyard and playing dumb on his constitutional duties, “The American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time. The consequences of failing to increase the debt ceiling are real, but so too are the consequences of allowing our spending problem to go unresolved. Without meaningful action, the debt will continue to act as an anchor on our economy, costing American jobs and endangering our children’s future. The House will do its job and pass responsible legislation that controls spending, meets our nation’s obligations and keeps the government running, and we will insist that the Democratic majority in Washington do the same.”
Obama has Boehner and his House Republicans completely boxed in. House Republicans have very few options. They can either raise the debt ceiling, or not raise the debt ceiling. Spending cuts aren’t going to factor into this equation. If House Republicans choose to let the country default, the millionaire/billionaire money machine that funds the party will almost certainly cut them off. The funders of the GOP value their wealth more than their ideology. If House Republicans allow the country to default, it could mean the end for the Republican Party.
Some House Republicans are bound to start pushing the suicide bomber option soon. The president admitted in his press conference that he has a constitutional duty to pay these bills. If the debt ceiling is not increased, and the country defaults, Obama will have committed an impeachable offense. Should Republicans decide that they are going to sink the ship, they might decide to try to take President Obama down with them. (The House would certainly vote to impeach Obama. The Senate would certainly vote to acquit Obama, and just like Bill Clinton before him, the president’s popularity would likely reach a record high.)
House Republicans are in a complete no win situation. The president has been setting this trap for two weeks only to see Boehner and House Republicans arrogantly bluster and bumble their way right into danger.
The president can sit back and enjoy the show, because House Republicans already have shown with the fiscal cliff deal that when push comes to shove enough of them will cave and avoid a crisis. If House Republicans want to help make Obama more popular and powerful, they should shut down the government. House Republicans are currently playing a game that they’ve already lost.
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