Posted on 10/09/2021 2:40:03 AM PDT by blueplum
...With a deadline of October 18th approaching—the point at which, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the U.S. would default on its debt if the debt ceiling were not raised by $480 billion—McConnell and Schumer agreed to raise the debt limit through December....
...The critics might want to hold their fire until they see what happens in December. According to McConnell's allies, the minority leader had very good reasons for striking the deal. They say it connects all the important political dots now laid out before him as GOP leader, in ways that will benefit Republicans going into a midterm election year. They include:...
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Absolutely no need for me to read this article. When Newsweek compliments a Republican you know he’s an assistant Democrat.
Well, Chuckles did take an unfortunate dump during a speech on the Senate floor.
With a deadline of October 18th approaching—the point at which, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the U.S. would default on its debt if the debt ceiling were not raised by $480 billion
I hate the financial imbeciles who report on these debt ceiling stories.
You earn $1000 per month. You have a credit bill due for $50. YOU DON’T DEFAULT ON THAT DEBT even if your monthly expenses are $1000 if you just spend $50 less on other stuff and pay the minimum due.
That said...
From the article:
Democrats had opposed using the Senate's "reconciliation process" (which allows the passage of fiscal-related legislation with only 51 votes, thus avoiding a possible filibuster) to raise the debt ceiling because they claimed not to have enough time. It was too complicated a process to do before October 18, they said. (And in fact it would have had to be one of the fastest reconciliation processes ever.) Ok, McConnell responded, we'll give you more time.Why would McConnell accede to this? He believes the Democrats are playing a losing hand, politically, on the debt ceiling and, more broadly, on their hugely ambitious spending plans. He wants to force them to vote using reconciliation, and with a December deadline, that's what they'll have to do.
This may be a "don't throw me in the briar patch" strategy.
By Senate rules, Congress may only use the reconciliation process to pass a spending bill, a revenue bill (taxes), and a debt limit bill. They can only pass one of each via reconciliation per fiscal year (which began on October 1). For example, if Congress bundles both tax and spend laws into a single reconciliation bill, that uses up both the tax and spend slots, and they cannot do another one until the next fiscal year via reconciliation. They would need to use the normal legislative process that is subject to cloture.
By forcing Democrats to rush through a raise to the debt limit via reconciliation, they cannot do it again until October 1, 2022, which is probably why Democrats were opposed to using the reconciliation process for this right now. They wanted to save it for next year when they got closer to the mid-term elections.
Will this work out to Republicans' favor? Who knows? It feels like a sports coach who is saving a time-out for the end of the game, and then ends up not using it when it could have mattered earlier in the game. McConnell could have forced the Democrats now by making them vote 50-50 with Harris breaking the tie to make the Democrats own raising the debt ceiling, but he didn't. He took that campaign oppo off the table.
Will forcing the Democrats to spend a reconciliation slot now to raise the debt ceiling matter next year, or will McConnell get snookered again by something else that he deems to be critical at the time?
-PJ
By inducing the democrats to agree to a dollar figure, McConnell staved off the rats’ primary goal: a “suspension” of the debt ceiling with no limit— in other words, the democrats goal was to blow the door off the mint and run the presses 24/7 forever. There would have been no stopping runaway inflation and the crashing of the dollar. The media are careful not to alert you to this crucial difference between now and the usual “raising of the ceiling” of the past.
McConnell’s latest sell out was amazingly ignorant, from a political viewpoint, because it gives the impression that Republicans CAN easily make the debt ceiling issue go away, if they want to, which completely undermines their public claim the the debt ceiling issue belongs primarily to Democrats.
It also double crossed the pledge they had made just a few weeks ago to not help the Democrats.
He shot both our feet off at the same time, and proved he is nothing more than a water boy for Schumer,
I’m 65. I’ve heard this story from Repubs many, many times. It’s just another wrinkle of, “We’ll get ‘em next time!”
Of course he has a plan. Move the debate it into December, and stand tough, causing a shut down off a couple weeks. The media parades all the fat, lazy, and incompetent government workers whining about not getting Christmas, and the GOP has more moral support to capitulate.
thanks very much for the analysis. I didn’t know this part, which seems important:
“By forcing Democrats to rush through a raise to the debt limit via reconciliation, they cannot do it again until October 1, 2022”
The McConnell apologists are out in full force. He gave away all leverage n the spending bills. Forcing the Dems to pass the reconciliation in a tight timeframe would have meant significant cuts to ensure votes by Sinema and Manchin, so that they could increase the debt limit on time. If this was some sort of genius play and “win” by McConnell, there would have been a joint statement by McConnell and Schumer extolling the virtues of bi-partisanship and slapping each other on the back. Instead Schumer gets to ridicule McConnell while dancing in the GOP end zone. McConnell’s claim to “wait until next time” is absolutely weak and pathetic.
Legislation requires both the House and the Senate, confirmation does not.
McConnell probably held firm on SCOTUS nominees because he was burned too many times by Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer during the Bush administration.
Legislatively, McConnell couldn't get ObamaCare repealed. On treaties, he worked with Obama to twist the advice and consent rules from a 2/3rds to ratify into a 2/3rds to override a veto on the Iran deal.
I could go on about the things he did to undermine conservatives to save his precioussssss... Senate.
-PJ
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Introduction to Budget “Reconciliation”
-PJ
Well said. And he set himself up to be the scapegoat obstructionist if he doesn’t play lap dog again next time, since he played that role this time. Bottom line it gives the impression that Republicans in Congress have no issues they are truly willing to fight for, which apparently, they don’t.
This is why senators make shitty presidents. They typically are too clever by half. They think they can inject themselves in every little detail.
Most here won’t agree with the reasoning, but Fuzzy Slippers at legalinsurrection.com has an interesting take on this
And Schumers meltdown yesterday just may have killed any chance of getting Manchin to go along with a couple of big items that the democrats were hoping to ram through
He was disgusted by Schmuckie and walked out while Chuck was still speaking
They were not happy with how this turned out
If you’re pinning any hope to the Supreme Court, you have no hope. They are liberal pigs, except for Alito and Thomas.
They will unfortunately, never end Roe v. Wade.
It is A-L-L Kabuki theater.
Manchin and Sinima and 11 RINO senators will vote with Schummer.
How many times do we need to see this movie to know what the ending will be?
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