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This is What We're Up Against: McCarthy Told to Promise NOT to Raise the Debt Ceiling [1]

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Date: 2023-01-04  

The more things change . . .

Ralph Norman (R-Batsh!t) has let it be known what McCarthy has to do in order to get his vote:

x McCarthy critic Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said he wanted McCarthy to devise a debt-limit deal suitable to fiscal conservatives.



"Is he willing to shut the government down rather than raise the debt ceiling? That's a non-negotiable item." — Chris Cioffi (@ReporterCioffi) January 4, 2023

(For the Twitless) McCarthy critic Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said he wanted McCarthy to devise a debt-limit deal suitable to fiscal conservatives. “Is he willing to shut the government down rather than raise the debt ceiling? That’s a non-negotiable item.” — Chris Cioffi (Roll Call)

Political Wire makes the obvious point: “It’s worth noting that the debt ceiling and government shutdowns have nothing to do with each other.”

True, that. The debt ceiling maintains our obligation to honor payments already made. Shutting down the government doesn’t change our existing debt. It just makes our future credit worthless. But the infancy squad clearly thinks government is worthless anyway.

This, of course, is what we all were afraid of as the lame duck session wound down: the 117th Congress wouldn’t do anything about the debt ceiling, so it left a loaded AK47 in the hands of cranky babies.

Maybe there was no choice then. If it came down to preventing a government shutdown right away as opposed to, say, six months from now, and both were not possible, I suppose we had to go staving off immediate disaster to buy time to deal with the later one. That doesn’t make me feel any better about it now, though.

If there is anything to be gained from this latest stunt, it may be that it will push reasonable Republicans (all we need are 11) to work with the Democrats to get a moderate Speaker who will not be beholden to the children’s caucus. It could happen: Ocasio-Cortez Open to Working with Republicans. She said she (and presumably others) would not do this for McCarthy, and they would want some concessions, such as committee chairs. (!) And, apparently, some common sense on the debt ceiling.

We’ll see. About the only thing that’s clear right now is the Little Kevin will not be Speaker.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/4/2145379/-This-is-What-We-re-Up-Against-McCarthy-Told-to-Promise-NOT-to-Raise-the-Debt-Ceiling

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