“They CAPITULATED WITHOUT A FIGHT!”
There should never be a fight on this issue.
You are, of course, correct.
But your position presumes that both sides are in fundamental agreement about spending levels and resultant debt levels. And that both have had equal input into the spending decisions that have incurred the debt.
But, in this case, no, they are not in agreement, nor have they had equal input. And the reason is that one side -- the GOP House side -- had no input on spending levels for FY 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Recall that the Democrats -- and, then, the Democrat Senate -- failed to pass a budget for any of those years, intentionally leaving spending levels to the workings of the "baseline budget" -- which had been inflated to the tune of $1 trillion by Porkulus.
I.e., the Democrats cheated the House out of its rightful role in authorizing any and all expenditures, in contravention of the Constitution.
The Republicans thus have every reason fight the issue. That they did not redounds to their discredit.