Led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Republicans passed legislation that would cut spending while agreeing to raise the debt ceiling. Remember that the “debt ceiling” does not authorize new spending, it only pays for spending already approved by Congress. In other words, should we pay our bills or not?
This legislation commits to paying our bills in exchange for cutting spending on numerous programs (other than defense, of course). And “cut spending” would be just that. According to some estimates, non-defense discretionary spending would be cut by 22% across the board. (This number isn’t from any leftist blog, that’s according to the Office of Management and Budget.)
On the plus side, between the Senate and a presidential veto, this bill has a snowball chance in hell of being enacted into law. On the dark side, the United States government is one step closer to defaulting.
Goodbye legislation, hello ransom demands.
If you’re confused amidst McCarthy’s talk of fiscal responsibility and good faith bargaining, don’t be. All that’s going on is that Republicans are trying to force the country to adopt their far-right fiscal plans, or they will blow up the economy.
Given the current composition of Republicans in Congress, there is a very real possibility that the party’s extremists and complicit moderates will default the United States, leading to a global economic catastrophe.
This is not a compromise or negotiation situation, one tries to argue with extremists who have economic explosives strapped around their bodies.
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