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McConnell proposes giving Obama new power to automatically increase the debt limit

Posted 12 Jul 2011 in economy, politics, Republicans

Once again, the Republican Party is exhibiting a disturbing lack of spinal fortitude.

GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has released details of an “alternative compromise” which abdicates Congressional authority in favor of granting Obama unilateral power to raise the debt ceiling unless Congress blocks the increase by a 2/3 vote in both houses. Guy Benson breaks it down:

Now that the table is set, here’s how the proposed plan would work: Republicans in Congress would agree to vote to authorize the president to propose three separate incremental debt ceiling increases, spaced over the remainder of his term. He would be required to couple each request with a corresponding set of spending cuts that exceed the dollar amount of his sought-after debt limit hike. These cuts would be of his choosing alone. The first pair of requests would come prior to the August 2 deadline. It would be for roughly $700 Billion. The next requests, for $900 Billion, would come in the fall, and the final tranche (also for $900 Billion) would be scheduled for summer of 2012 — in the thick of the campaign cycle.

In all likelihood, on each occasion, Republicans would overwhelmingly vote to disapprove of the president’s debt ceiling increase request. This allows GOP members (and almost certainly some vulnerable Democrats) to technically vote “no” on raising the debt ceiling. If, as is likely, simple majorities in both houses vote to disapprove of the president’s requests, he’d be forced to veto each disapproval, pinging the issue back to Capitol Hill. If Congress can’t override those vetos with 2/3 majorities (and Republicans won’t have the votes, even with some Democrats), the debt ceiling will increase. But not without the exacting a substantial political price from the president and his allies in Congress. They will own the debt ceiling hike. Period. Members of Congress who vote with the president will set themselves up to be targeted by brutal attack ads (“so-and-so has voted to increase the national debt limit three times in the last year alone,” etc).

Essentially, this allows Obama to raise the debt ceiling without making any spending cuts. Perhaps McConnell would like to explain how this isn’t capitulation?

I understand that the GOP is worried about political fallout from making deals with Chairman Zero, but honestly, they need to grow a pair and do the job for which they were elected. Democrats sure don’t mind playing hardball and refusing to negotiate on their principles. It’s only the Republicans who roll like a power window. They need to stop worrying so much about public opinion in the short term and focus instead on doing the right thing. They need to ask themselves: “What’s going to be the right thing 10 years from now?”

And if Republicans still want to weasel out of these tough negotiations, they could take a page from the Pelosi playbook and simply “deem” the debt limit increase to have passed.    /snark

Or they could pass legislation which specifies that if there is no 2012 budget passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President by July 31, the entire Federal government will be shut down excepting our military, border security, federal prisons, and the minimum staff needed to avoid defaulting on our nation’s debts and send out Social Security checks.

Instead, the Republican Party is punting to President Obama and hoping they won’t regret it later.

Will the GOP — and the rest of America — regret this “fallback plan?” I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.

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RELATED: Hot Air‘s Allahpundit sees this proposal as a good thing. Maybe he’s seeing something I’m missing. I hope he’s right.

Long story short, the debt-ceiling showdown was a big gamble and this is McConnell’s way of hedging the party’s bets at the eleventh hour. Unsatisfying, but if it happens and O faces a nasty backlash for raising the ceiling, it’s a compelling argument next year for why we need a Republican president and more Republican congressmen. A serious deal on long-term sustainability simply isn’t possible with the left in control of one or more branches of government. If the GOP wants to do this, they’ll have to do it themselves. And then reap the consequences.

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UPDATE: McConnell’s plan has now been endorsed by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Chuck Schumer. If that doesn’t set off alarms in your head, your RINO detector is broken.

Posted by FullMetalPatriot
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT

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