It has only been sitting for one day and already the 113th Congress is a complete disaster. Citing a Republican polling firm’s December findings, Speaker Boehner told his caucus this morning that 72% of the public believes that the government should cut spending by more than whatever amount they add to the debt ceiling. In other words, Speaker Boehner committed himself to holding the debt ceiling hostage despite the president’s adamant refusal to negotiate over the issue.
We all know that you can get a poll to tell you whatever you want it to tell you. If we asked people to cut government spending by $1.2 trillion dollars (the rough amount of the next debt ceiling hike), they would not like their choices and would determine that we need more revenue. There is no way that 72% of the people would still think it was a good idea to cut spending that much. A poll taken in December is almost meaningless because the president will have his inaugural speech and his State of the Union speech to make his case for never negotiating on the debt ceiling again. He’ll have all of Wall Street on his side. He’ll have every reputable economist on his side. He’ll have Bill Clinton on his side. He’ll have a unified Democratic Party on his side. And he already has the good will of the people.
Speaker Boehner seems incapable of thinking more than one step ahead. He ought to ask himself how he plans on winning this showdown with the rest of the universe. He could, for example, pass a bill that raises the debt ceiling by $1.2 trillion and cuts spending by more than that. And he could hand that to the Senate and dare them not to pass it. Except, he could never get his caucus to vote for the cuts to Medicare that such a bill would require. But, let’s say he could pass it. He’d be threatening everyone’s Medicare on one side and the global economy and the nation’s credit rating on the other. And he’d be doing it in the context of a simultaneous hostage situation on the sequester that threatens every powerful interest group in the country, including the Pentagon. And, all this, without the slightest whiff of a mandate from the people.
Mr. Boehner was barely reelected as Speaker. He has no margin for error. If ever anyone was waddling into the threshing blades*, it’s John Boehner.
I keep going back to the TParty premise of making govt as small as possible and thereby disfunctional allows Boehner to succeed by obstructing at every turn. Shortsighted is a mild term for his goal. Though it is common to see last minute deals in our Congress, the penchant for procrastination into cliffhangers is the antithesis of good government debate. What it is, is the Rep comfort zone for obstructionism.
Make Republican itemize and total (using arithmetic) the government programs they would cut. No more Democrats owning spending cuts that hurt people, in the name of compromise or “shared sacrifice”.
For their part, Democrat should itemize the parts of the tax code that they want repealed.
Chances are the public will agree with tax code part and disagree with what Republicans want to cut.
Stealth legislation is an enemy to the Democratic agenda, just like stealth filibusters are.
Agree fully.
that’s how I see it too
This is going to be interesting: on one side the most talented politician in generations who is at the top of his game and represents the best of American values and culture in alignment with demographic trends. On the other side, at the absolute bottom of their game, the proud, fearful and dangerously rabid owners of the worst institutional disfunction and cultural backwardness of our nation. I know who I’m betting on.
Didn’t he also commit himself to a lie?
67 lunatics just voted against flood insurance relief for Sandy victims.
Any idea how many of those reps are from states that are net takers from the federal government when it comes to tax dollars received versus tax dollars given?
My gut tells me it is probably a high number.
And this was just agreeing to the payout on flood insurance that people had already bought.
It’s the same logic as refusing to raise the debt ceiling to pay for spending Congress already approved.
These people would not last a month in their beloved private sector.
Greg Sargent makes the same point.
And don’t forget–the Drunken Boner is they best they’ve got!
No other conserva-clown was even willing to run against him. A party of 100% backbenchers is the “majority”, jeebus.
the president also said he was holding the line at $250,000. Of course he’s gonna negotiate on the debt ceiling.
sorry, I’ve seen this show before.
^^^^^^^^^
DAMN BOOMAN
The question I have is, what does Boehner expect to produce that will allow him to win this next confrontation, if he thinks he can win a game of chicken with the president? Can you possibly imagine Boehner engaging in a battle of national politics with Barack Obama? After he just lost and retained his position because his supposed teaparty base doesn’t have the brainpower or roster strength to field a competitor to his weak sauce? After Obama just crushed Mr. 1% and sent him to chilly national obscurity?
Really, you’re going to go to the public with the promise to put a bullet in economic demand if Senate democrats don’t give you 2TRILLION in cuts you refuse to specify or characterize in any way? That’s your play? I have to think you’re just calculating the time and terms of your surrender.
It seems that everyone agrees with Markos that these people are psychopaths. Why do we think they care what anyone thinks? They will have to be appeased in some way, even if it is a small way. And we know that, at a minimum, a bone will be thrown their way. But even that will mean that somewhere, people who simply cannot afford it, will suffer even worse than they have suffered before. The psychopaths will not be happy until we have, once again, taken from those who can least afford it. Romney’s “47%” must feel an inordinately unfair amount of pain for them to be satisfied. My guess is, they won’t concede until they are sure they have that firmly in their grasp.
So long as there is a dollar left to steal from anyone less fortunate, they will try to steal it.
How does he plan to win a showdown? By having Obama come in at the last moment proposing SS and Medicare cuts which he will then pass with a minority of Republicans and all or almost all Democrats.
He just did that with the Bush tax cuts!
I now wish that Romney had won, because then Democrats in the Senate would stand firm to oppose him on tax cuts and spending cuts.
So what? There were no cuts in the tax deal. talking about something isn’t the same thing as doing it. you do get that he can these things knowing full well Boehner can’t deliver, right?
If you are negotiating for a car or house and offer to throw in a B-J from your wife how do you think your wife will react even if the deal doesn’t go through?
Your wife would give someone a B-J just because you promised someone that she would? Huh.
No, she would be furious that I even offered it. That’s my point.
At which point you would truly be a voice in the wilderness.
They’ll never pass a bill, because to do so, they would have to name their cuts.
Repeat after me: THEY WILL NOT NAME THEIR CUTS. Not the ones that would add up to enough to matter.