Republicans now in control of the House have threatened to use the debt ceiling as leverage to demand spending cuts from Democrats and the Biden administration. This has raised concerns in Washington and on Wall Street about a bruising fight over the debt ceiling this year that could be at least as disruptive as the protracted battle of 2011, which prompted the brief downgrade of the US credit rating and years of forced domestic and military spending cuts.
If there’s no other way of forcing some sort of connection between spending and income then why not this debt limit way?
For one of the things about the American budget system is that there is no, in any real sense, single overseer of the budget. Each House committee sorts out its own little area, each Senate one mithers with it. “The” budget is therefore built from the ground up with no one really specifically responsible for the overall effect.
the protracted battle of 2011, which prompted the brief downgrade of the US credit rating and years of forced domestic and military spending cuts.
US national debt in 2011: 14.7 trillion dollars
US national debt in 2022: 31 trillion dollars
The Republicans have predictably been talking the talk since regaining the house majority.
One particularly welcome proposal involves giving members 72 hours to read bills before voting on them. Splitting spending bills along House Committee lines as mentioned above so that one bill deals solely with defence spending, one with entitlements, one with infrastructure (a few actual details for once would be nice) etc etc would be an even better indication that they are taking their responsibility seriously. Don’t hold your breath.
Anyway as far as exercising the “power of the purse” is concerned it’s rather academic for now after the way McConnell, in his last meaningful capitulation, pushed through the 2023 federal funding bill just before Christmas rather than sending it back to what would have been a Republican house.
This is possibly the most powerful weapon the Democrats have – their willingness to see the country really badly damaged for their own political gain. They don’t give a fuck about bad credit ratings and defence cuts but they know the Republicans do. So they’ll hold the country to ransom, their media allies will blame the Republicans and the Republicans will fold. The Democrats will retain their fiefdoms and win back the House.
PJF – I don’t think anybody’s holding a gun to their heads and making them repeatedly betray their own voters and supposed ‘values’. That’s just what conservatives do.
That’s just what conservatives do.
Liberals also betray their own voters and values – it’s what politicians do.