I watched Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) chairing the Rules Committee as he reluctantly created a rule to allow a vote on Boehner’s latest plan. He said he was unhappy about having to introduce the crappy bill, but he doesn’t want to take a chance of Social Security checks not getting to his constituents or the country losing it’s AAA credit rating. You had to be able to read between the lines a little bit, but Dreier acknowledged that the bill would be totally unacceptable to the Senate but, he explained, the House had to create some kind of “work product” to give to the Senate so that a compromise could be worked out. He further explained that they had to put Balanced Budget Amendment in to pass anything. They’re basically humoring the Tea Partiers just so they can create a “work product.”
Now, I’m a little unclear about whether lifting the debt limit technically counts as a spending bill. Under the Constitution, all spending bills must originate in the House. But the debt limit doesn’t spend any money, it only authorizes the spending of money. So, perhaps Dreier is being disingenuous. I’m pretty sure Harry Reid can get around that requirement anyway by hollowing out a bill that has passed the House and replacing the text with his own bill. I guess I should ask David Waldman about this stuff.
In any case, the Republican leadership is using a scandalous amount of posturing and disingenuousness. They do seem to be fooling the Tea Baggers, though.