I’m getting pretty bored with stories about the Fiscal Cliff. The administration can insist on what it wants and give some face-saving measures to Speaker Boehner. The ultimate deal has to be something that the vast majority of Democratic senators support, and that means that it has to be something that a very significant percentage of House Democrats support. Here is what Speaker Boehner should be presented with.
He should be presented with a deal that he can only pass with most of the Democratic caucus and a minority of the Republican one. This will break him on the rack and he’ll either force the thing though and lose his influence or he will refuse to try and get blamed for taking us over the cliff.
A deal is preferable to going over the cliff, but we have little reason to pay much of a premium for that. A small face-saving premium? Yes. A premium that most House Republicans support and most House Democrats oppose? Hell no.
In that case, let’s go over the cliff and talk again once we have more congressional members in both Houses in January.
