The debt ceiling crisis is a crisis that didn’t have to be. It’s less about economics than it is about politics. And it’s less about politics than it is about a potentially devastating misunderstanding of how politics should work.
What should be clear to everyone — including the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party — is that you don’t play with the health of the American economy in order to make a point.
But two dozen or so House Republicans are doing just that. They’ve forced an embarrassed House Speaker John Boehner to bend to their will and frame an 11th-hour deficit ceiling bill that the Senate would not only reject, but wouldn’t even consider beyond the time it takes to kill it.
It is not a bill meant to help resolve a crisis — either the debt ceiling crisis or the long-term debt issue. It does nothing to address entitlement reform or tax code reform.
It’s a bill that restates support for a balanced budget amendment, knowing full well there is little support among Senate Democrats for such a bill. As Sen. John McCain said the other day, to send such a bill to the Senate at this point is “foolish.” It’s also reckless.
We’ll assume that even the dirty two dozen House Republicans understand that much. What we can’t understand is how, with only a few days left until the country approaches default, they’d be so irresponsible.
We have heard repeatedly the dangers of default, which range from the potential downgrading of America’s AAA credit rating to the potential harm it would do the fragile U.S. economy. We know the terrible choices that would have to be made between, say, paying Social Security recipients and paying troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
America, the richest country in the world, has never defaulted on its obligations. As far as we know, no country has ever willingly defaulted.
Let’s give some credit to the Colorado Republican delegation for realizing the dangers. All four sided with Boehner on a bill that, while it wouldn’t have passed the Senate, did allow space for compromise.
Reps. Cory Gardner and Scott Tipton are part of the House Republican freshman class. But they stood up to arm twisting, including Sarah Palin’s threat of “contested primaries” for Tea Party freshmen who voted with Boehner. Rep. Mike Coffman is a leading proponent of the balanced budget amendment. And Rep. Doug Lamborn is among the most conservative members of the House.
In a New Yorker interview late last year, Boehner said he would have to “educate members” about the real risks related to default.
“This is going to be probably the first really big adult moment” facing the new members of his caucus, he said. “You can underline ‘adult.’ “
We wish we could underline adult at this point. In his speech Friday on the House floor, Boehner said he had stuck his neck “out a mile” in negotiations with President Obama. He’s right. At the last moment, though, he pulled his neck back in.
And now we’re three days from the Aug. 2 deadline.
