With congressional Republicans planning to use the debt ceiling to extract spending cuts and other concessions from the Democrats, everyone seems to agree that another political crisis is in the making. Once again, an easily avoided outcome over a fake issue could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
AUSTIN – In his bid to become Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy apparently agreed to a demand, voiced by Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina, that he commit to “shut down the government rather than raise the debt ceiling.” There is firm bipartisan agreement on what this would mean. Crisis looms. For the Republican extremists, the impending crisis is their chance to remake America. For Democrats (and a few surviving mainstream Republicans), the threat of catastrophe justifies a politically dangerous vote to raise the ceiling. For the media – left, right, and center – it’s the drama, stupid.
AUSTIN – In his bid to become Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy apparently agreed to a demand, voiced by Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina, that he commit to “shut down the government rather than raise the debt ceiling.” There is firm bipartisan agreement on what this would mean. Crisis looms. For the Republican extremists, the impending crisis is their chance to remake America. For Democrats (and a few surviving mainstream Republicans), the threat of catastrophe justifies a politically dangerous vote to raise the ceiling. For the media – left, right, and center – it’s the drama, stupid.