Made in the GOP
Republicans Seek Credit for a Debt Ceiling Solution
It's
pretty clear at this point that the debt ceiling debacle isn't about
spending cuts and tax increases and entitlement reform and balanced
budget amendments.
It's about 2012.
That
is the only logical explanation for the Republican Party's blanket
opposition to every attempt by Democrats to solve this impasse over an
otherwise routine debt limit increase. Republicans need something they
can campaign on in 2012.
After
three years of saying no to everything – health care reform, Don't Ask
Don't Tell repeal, the Dream Act, a nuclear treaty with Russia, the Libya
intervention, unemployment benefits, and most recently the debt ceiling
increase itself – Republicans need a legislative victory they can show
off to the voting public.
They fared well in the midterm election by campaigning against policies
that were already on the books, but they've failed to achieve any of
the repeals and nullifications they placed at the center of their 2010
campaign: "Obamacare" is still in place, the stimulus bill was not
reversed, and the debt continues to grow.
They
also failed to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood and NPR, to
gut the regulatory oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency, and
to turn Medicare into a voucher program. As for the far-right Tea Party
conservatives out there who thought the 2010 election would mark a
turning point for the morality of the United States, every day is
another reminder that Republicans have also failed to make abortion
illegal, to replace biology with Intelligent Design in our nation's
schools, to abolish the IRS and the Department of Education, to return
to the gold standard, and to protect our government against Sharia law
with a constitutional amendment.
They cannot win another election simply by campaigning against everything,
especially not when they've fallen short of achieving any of the goals
they sought. Republicans need a legislative victory. This debt ceiling
fight may be the last opportunity to campaign for something
in 2012. (God knows they can't point to the 2011 budget negotiations
and boast about how they slashed the deficit; according to the
non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill they agreed to
eventually ended up costing $3.2 billion, not saving the $78 billion
they claimed.)
And that is why Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor stormed out of negotiations last month. It's why Speaker John Boehner abandoned negotiations with President Obama
last week. Every deal Democrats have offered, whether to slash
government spending by $4 trillion or to cut entitlements, may have been
a capitulation to Republican demands; it may have been snatched up
without pause by any other Republican Party; but it was still offered by
Democrats.
Democrats
are the opponents, and accepting a deal crafted by the enemy is
sacrilege in Washington, D.C., today – even if doing so provides a means
to achieving the ends you campaigned on in the last election.
Republicans
need to draft their own bill. They need to prove that they are capable
of governing, of leading. They must be able to demonstrate to their
constituents that the Grand Old Party represents more than obstruction.
They need to pass a law that has a "MADE in the GOP" label on it.
And so they did. Or tried.
It was titled the "Cut, Cap and Balance" bill, and it did everything Republicans wanted. It cut
spending, capped total outlays based on average GDP growth, and called
for an amendment to the Constitution requiring balanced annual budgets.
(See "The Balanced Budget Amendment that Wasn't")
Despite
being heralded by Speaker John Boehner as a "bipartisan bill," CC&B passed along party lines in the House, receiving only five
Democratic votes to 229 from Republicans. Not a single Democrat voted
for it in the Senate.
In
a speech following the president's national address on the debt ceiling
crisis, Boehner claimed, "there's no stalemate here in Congress." It
wasn't his only false claim.
"I
want you to know," he said, "I made sincere effort to work with the
president, to identify a path forward that would implement the
principles of 'Cut, Cap and Balance' in a manner that could secure
bipartisan support and be signed into law."
The bill "could" secure
bipartisan support if it were a bipartisan bill, but it didn't because
it isn't – and neither was the proposal Boehner came up with after
Democrats rejected the CC&B bill in the Senate.
CBS News poll |
In
attempting to solve one problem, Republicans have created another. Like
everything Republicans have proposed this year – repealing health care
reform, eviscerating the EPA, defunding public radio – Boehner's
proposal is slated for failure because it makes no concessions to
Democrats.
What's
more, not only will the new proposal fail to garner bipartisan support
in the upper chamber, it is also failing to unite Republicans in the
House.
Rep. Jim Jordan, standing alongside Boehner at a press conference, thanked the speaker "for
fighting for Republican principles," but said "I cannot support the
plan that was presented to House Republicans this afternoon."
Instead,
Jordan is urging Republicans to stick with the CC&B proposal, even
though it couldn't garner a simple majority in the Senate; even though
it requires a supermajority to pass.
Republicans
have found their footing with a bill that the majority of Republicans
support, but they have isolated their opposition such that voting on
their bill represents nothing more than a symbolic gesture aimed at
creating the perception of party unity.
Boehner's
speakership is on the line. The Republican Party's majority hold over
the House may be in jeopardy, as well. A strong majority of the American
people have shunned the GOP for holding up a deal to avert default. A
strong majority supports tax increases. A strong majority supports
compromise.
Any
debt ceiling deal that cuts federal spending, reduces the national
deficit, and averts disaster by preventing U.S. default will be seen by
voters of both sides as a policy victory for the ages.
Republicans
appear incapable of taking the steps that are necessary to allow them
to claim even partial credit in that historic deal. They cannot accept
anything they themselves didn't create, and they cannot make concessions
that will allow Democrats to accept anything they did create.
Congress
is no closer to a debt ceiling agreement today than it was six months
ago, and the Republican Party's goal of having a legislative record on
which they can base their 2012 campaign is still out of reach.
At this point, Plan B is likely a repeat of the 2010 "blame Obama" strategy.
Unfortunately for Republicans, public opinion polls consistently show a "blame Republicans" mentality.
According to the latest CBS News poll, 71 percent of the American public holds Republicans responsible for the impasse.
If
the United States defaults, Democrats would be wise to take a page from
the Republican Party's 2010 campaign playbook. A "repeal the GOP"
platform could prove effective in 2102.
Then again, if Republicans let the nation default, Democrats might not have to campaign at all.
(Cross-posted at Muddy Politics.)
Labels: 2012 elections, Barack Obama, debt ceiling, Democrats, Jim Jordan, John Boehner, Republicans, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate
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