Austerity For Us-- Good Times For Their Billionaire Financiers
Let the good times roll
Let them knock you around
Let the good times roll
Let them make you a clown
- Ric Ocasek
Last night Tony Romm wrote that Biden is leaning on polling suggesting Republicans will take the lion’s share of the blame if the worst should happen, and the country is forced into default. “Aides,” he wrote “are confident that their messaging about important programs that the Republicans want to cut will resonate with voters— and that they will be able to link the collapse to Republican ‘extremism’ on the economy and their out-of-step stances on other issues like abortion and guns.” That’s because an incredibly weak Speaker is allowing the most radical and extreme fringe of his conference to utterly control the entire Republican agenda. Deranged crackpots and Q-Anon misfits like Andy Biggs (AZ), Scott Perry (PA), Gym Jordan (OH), Lauren Boebert (CO), Matt Gaetz (FL), Marjorie Traitor Greene (GA), Matt Rosendale (MT), Bob Good (VA), Alex Mooney (WV), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Chip Roy (TX), Andrew Clyde (GA), Clay Higgins (LA), Mary Miller (IL), Ronny Jackson (TX), Dan Bishop (NC), Ralph Norman (SC), Paul Gosar (AZ), Warren Davidson (OH)… are steering the Republic Party... right into an iceberg.
At the same time, John Wagner was reporting that Biden was calling this extremism “reckless hostage taking” by McCarthy. “Biden called a threatened default ‘totally irresponsible,’ adding: ‘It will lead to higher interest rates, higher credit card rates. Mortgage rates will skyrocket. Working people, middle class and seniors will pay the price.’”
Robert Reich wrote that “McCarthy and his band of Republican radicals are demanding that in return for their agreement to raise the debt ceiling, Biden and Democrats make drastic cuts in programs Americans rely on— in everything from from public safety to health care to education. My advice to Joe Biden: Ignore McCarthy and the Republican radicals. Mr. President, your oath to uphold the Constitution takes precedence. As the supreme law of the land, the Constitution has greater weight than the debt ceiling. Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution states that ‘The validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned.’ A debt ceiling that prevents the federal government from honoring its existing financial commitments violates the Constitution. So, if House Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling, you are obligated by the U.S. Constitution and your oath of office to ignore the debt ceiling and continue to pay the debts of the United States. Should they wish, let the radical Republicans take you to court. Even the Republican radicals on the Supreme Court will likely support you. No ‘originalist’ interpretation of the Constitution could read that document differently. The Constitution makes it clear that Congress’ power to borrow money does not include the power to default on such borrowing.”
Good advice from Reich. I hope Biden takes it and disarms these domestic terrorists once and for all. Meanwhile, back to Tony Romm (Sunday with Marianna Sotomayor), who delved into the extremists’-- most of them ignorant and uneducated crackpots like Boebert and Traitor Greene-- takeover of the House Republican conference. “In early March,” they wrote, “a powerful group of far-right House Republicans issued its demands over the debt ceiling, signaling it would ‘consider’ supporting an increase if Congress gutted federal spending and revoked many of President Biden’s top priorities. One month later, the bloc helped pass a GOP bill that accomplishes nearly every one of its original policy aims— and now some of those conservatives say it’s just the beginning. For the roughly three dozen lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus, the fight over the nation’s fiscal health has doubled as an affirmation of their rapid political ascent. With government divided— and Republicans only in possession of a narrow, delicate advantage in the chamber— the bloc has evolved from an irascible minority faction into a controlling legislative force. The conservative caucus first flexed its muscle after the 2022 midterms, holding up the selection of Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House until it could secure a number of policy priorities. That included a commitment to wage war with Biden over fiscal issues, using the debt ceiling— the country’s ability to borrow to pay its bills— as leverage. House Republicans formally put that plan in motion on Wednesday, approving a measure that would cut spending by billions of dollars, impose new work requirements on welfare recipients and repeal federal funds meant to combat climate change. At every turn, conservatives shaped the bill, even forcing McCarthy in the final hours to revise it— after initially promising he would not.”
The final version of the so-called Limit, Save, Grow Act does not address their fuller policy wish list— and some far-right Republicans didn’t vote for it. But conservatives declared victory anyway, with some promising to push even harder for aggressive spending cuts, targeting everything from workplace safety inspections to federal college aid in the months to come.
“What we did in January to get change— to get true conservatism— is working,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a caucus member who serves on the House Budget Committee, said in an interview before he voted for McCarthy’s bill. “Does it go far enough? I would like to go a lot further. This is a start in the right direction.”
Norman said he wouldn’t support any bipartisan Senate bill that was weaker than what the House adopted. And he said the caucus would keep pressing for even deeper cuts as part of the annual appropriations process.
Asked if conservatives could use the threat of a shutdown for more leverage, Norman twice replied: “Absolutely.”
The rise of the far-right Republicans underscores the tough task facing McCarthy— and the broader economic risks in the party’s new gambit. A failure to raise the debt ceiling, possibly within six weeks, could cause the U.S. government to default, probably tipping the country into another recession.
The mere prospect of such a crisis has already started to spook Wall Street, influencing the way investors purchase government bonds and prompting at least one ratings agency to warn that persistent dysfunction could result in a downgrade in U.S. credit. A similar punishment cost taxpayers more than $1 billion in 2011, when the GOP last held up a debt ceiling increase in pursuit of massive spending cuts.
…The GOP’s far-right flank, meanwhile, has staked out a more aggressive stance. With the clock ticking, some members insist the bill approved this week is the bare minimum they would accept— no matter what Democrats may later demand.
“This is the deal that gets to 218,” Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said in an interview before the vote. “So, in my view, in order to maintain 218 in the House, Speaker McCarthy has to convey— he must convey to Senator Schumer and President Biden— that this is the deal and he cannot get to 218 with changes to this deal.”
“I think a lot of what’s in the package is what’s going to need to be there,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), another caucus member, added after Republicans finalized the bill. “The president has said he wants a clean debt ceiling, and he’s telling the House to take it. There are not 60 votes in the Senate for a clean debt ceiling.”
On their own, conservatives have immense sway over McCarthy’s agenda, because Republicans hold 222 seats— meaning the speaker only has four votes to spare. In exchange for handing him the gavel, far-right lawmakers also extracted from McCarthy the power to force a vote that could remove him from the position.
That calculus has weighed heavily on others in the party, particularly moderates, who have agonized for compromise. Some privately admit Republicans may have no choice but to rely on the support of some House Democrats if they have any hopes of passing a Senate-backed bill to prevent a default, since the GOP’s conservative wing ultimately would vote against it.
“Anything that becomes law has got to get 60 votes in the Senate, which means it’s got to be a two-party solution,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, one of the so-called “five families”— a Godfather movie reference— that comprise the Republican conference. “The question is, are all the five families going to be able to accepts a vote that garners 60 votes in the Senate?”
The House GOP proposal bears striking resemblance to the blueprint that far-right lawmakers unveiled in March, as they laid out the conditions in which they might support a debt increase— something many conservatives had never done in the past. Appearing at a news conference last month, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the leader of the House Freedom Caucus, pledged to “shrink” Washington as rank-and-file far-right lawmakers swiped at “woke” federal spending.
“Truth be told, the preference was not to raise it at all and pay down the debts we currently have, so we didn’t need to raise it,” Perry said in an interview after the bill passed, noting that in conversation with GOP leadership, the caucus settled on the idea that “upfront dollar savings needed to be maximized.”
…The caucus also secured from McCarthy a vast policy agenda: work requirements for welfare recipients, an end to Biden’s student debt cancellation plan, new powers for Congress to overturn federal regulations, an expansion of oil and gas drilling and a revocation of funds to help Washington pursue tax cheats.
Behind the scenes, though, some House Freedom Caucus still expressed reservations regarding McCarthy’s approach— and pushed the House speaker to go further. Lawmakers including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) called publicly for tougher, longer work requirements for the recipients of food stamps and Medicaid. Gaetz did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
…Hoping to add to the pressure, some members of the House Freedom Caucus are exploring ways to obtain additional spending cuts. The have focused their attention on the 12 spending bills that fund federal agencies and programs— seizing on the fact that Congress must pass them before Oct. 1 or the government could shut down in whole or part.
“Now that the Freedom Caucus has four members on Appropriations, there’s a louder call for cuts within the committee,” said Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA), one of those members, who said it “should result in different, more streamlined and smaller discretionary appropriations bills when they come out next month.”
But conservatives have encountered early hesitancy from senior GOP appropriators, some of whom have questioned if Republicans broadly can achieve $130 billion in cuts— not to mention the even-deeper reductions that some far-right members now seek. Privately, some GOP lawmakers admit there is no chance the Senate would ever accept such low spending levels.
“We need to come together to ensure committees receive the support they need while also making sure we’re not contributing to surging prices and out of control deficits through irresponsible fiscal policies,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), who oversees the transportation spending panel, said during a hearing earlier this month, adding that Democrats’ concerns about the effects of deep cuts are “perfectly legitimate.”
In a sign of their aggressive posture, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) joined other far-right Republicans in March to announce 507 proposals that he said would slash another $100 billion in spending next fiscal year and roughly $1 trillion over the next decade. Biggs, who later opposed McCarthy’s legislation, touted the approach for cleaving “woke” spending out of federal agencies, while slowing the “acceleration” of the national debt.
The far-right lawmakers transmitted their requests to House appropriators, then released their bills to little fanfare in early April, offering a budget-trimming road map for GOP lawmakers. They proposed to eliminate the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an agency that conducts workplace safety inspections. They sought to take away all funding for an Education Department program that administers college financial aid, threatening to cut off Pell grants to the roughly 6.7 million low-income Americans who currently receive them.
Conservatives also recommended new caps on agencies that conduct cutting-edge cancer research, oversee food safety, help retirees access their pensions, place foster children in homes and aid lawmakers in conducting investigations.