It appears Democrats have been preparing since January to force a vote by the entire House on raising the debt ceiling. Whether it works and they can find five sane Republicans to go along with them remains to be seen. As we've already discussed here, there's one responsible man in the room when it comes to the debt ceiling debate, and it ain't Kevin McCarthy.
House Democrats have been quietly planning a strategy to force a vote on the debt ceiling and avoid default since January, and they made sure it was introduced by a a little-known Democrat, Representative Mark DeSaulnier of California so it didn't draw too much attention:
With the possibility of a default now projected as soon as June 1, Democrats on Tuesday began taking steps to deploy the secret weapon they have been holding in reserve. They started the process of trying to force a debt-limit increase bill to the floor through a so-called discharge petition that could bypass Republican leaders who have refused to raise the ceiling unless President Biden agrees to spending cuts and policy changes.“
House Democrats are working to make sure we have all options at our disposal to avoid a default,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, wrote in a letter he sent to colleagues on Tuesday. “The filing of a debt ceiling measure to be brought up on the discharge calendar preserves an important option. It is now time for MAGA Republicans to act in a bipartisan manner to pay America’s bills without extreme conditions.”
An emergency rule Democrats introduced on Tuesday, during a pro forma session held while the House is in recess, would start the clock on a process that would allow them to begin collecting signatures as soon as May 16 on such a petition, which can force action on a bill if a majority of members sign on. The open-ended rule would provide a vehicle to bring Mr. DeSaulnier’s bill to the floor and amend it with a Democratic proposal — which has yet to be written — to resolve the debt limit crisis.
Republicans, of course, are balking at the notion of anyone going around Kevin McCarthy, but at least some of them appear to care more about defaulting on our debt than playing partisan politics:
Still, some moderate Republicans have already floated a willingness to join Democrats on a discharge petition if Congress inches too close to a federal default with no resolution in sight. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a co-chairman of the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus, said earlier in the year that he might do so — “if that’s necessary.”
We're going to see these idiots take us right up to the edge of default where they still do real economic damage to the country before they finally do their jobs and raise the debt limit, just as they have in the past.
It's disgusting and it's a shame there aren't enough Republican voters educated enough about what they keep doing over and over again to the country to put a stop to this crap.
