They're having a fight these days in Washington about paying the nation's bills. It's not about new bills. It's about paying the bills that have already been put on the national credit card. Twenty-five percent of that debt was racked up in the last four years under Donald Trump. No matter. Republicans are horrified by the amount of money their country borrows. Joe Biden is trying to resolve the issue. Jennifer Rubin writes:
For starters, Biden never said he wouldn’t negotiate with Republicans. He never said a debt ceiling bill had to pass before negotiations commenced. For months, he said that he would not negotiate over the debt ceiling but he would talk about spending cuts. He insisted Republicans put forth their own budget — as he did — to lay out the parties’ contrasting visions. Only when McCarthy brought up and passed a spending bill did the president agree to serious negotiations.
The White House insists Republicans moved toward the president in finally passing a spending plan. (The president’s aides pointed to a similar negotiation in 2011 for simultaneous budget negotiations before the debt ceiling was finally raised.) Certainly, the White House did flush out Republicans, although the latter voted on a spending plan, not a complete budget, which would have demonstrated the full extent of the GOP’s fiscal irresponsibility.
But there has been no deal and it's crunch time on June 1st. There are some who say Biden should simply ignore the Republicans and claim they must, under the 14th Amendment, pay their bills:
That, however, includes significant risks, including the loss of support among the usual suspects, notably Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). White House aides point out that a legal challenge over the 14th Amendment would be inevitable, and while the legal battle played out, the markets would be in turmoil. Indeed, the White House detected some troubling movement in the bond markets recently, though that calmed down once reports of constructive negotiations emerged.
Biden has some wiggle room. He can play good cop and bad cop:
While his emissaries talk to Republicans (who now understand their outlandish budget cuts aren’t happening), a discharge position, a proposal to invoke the 14th Amendment and pressure the 18 Republicans from districts Biden won in 2020 can ensure that Biden need not give away much. That gives him the best chance to avoid imperiling a stunning economic recovery or rewarding Republicans for their temper tantrum.
Time will tell whether that strategy will work.
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