"Politics, Not Principle"
Budget guru Donald Marron has a great run-down on past votes to raise the debt ceiling. He concludes that the burden of voting for a debt ceiling increase falls on the party in power: "Debt limit votes are about politics, not principle." When Republicans are in charge, they vote to raise the debt ceiling and Democrats demagogue the issue; when Democrats are in charge, the roles are reversed.
What about divided government?
If the Senate provides any guide, roughly equal numbers of [House] Republicans and Democrats will ultimately vote for an increase. That would allow many Tea Party-backed Republicans to vote no without affecting the outcome. And other members might simply skip the vote. That’s what 21 members did in 2004, when it took just 208 votes to raise the debt ceiling.
The bottom line, though, is that the debt ceiling will have to be raised. To maintain it and prevent eventual default, the government would have to erase our more than $1 trillion annual deficit and suspend things like student loan payments. Talk about a bitter pill.
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Re: "Politics, Not Principle"
Yes, but the question is whether GOP will use it as leverage to extract a concession or two on limiting spending, or at least trying to. Mark Levin and others have made that point -- a strategic point.
Re: "Politics, Not Principle"
I wonder if the Dems will try to corner the GOP by suggesting defense spending limits and cuts.