The House is willing to put millions of American lives in jeopardy and to threaten world-wide economic catastrophe. It's as though they have become this giant mindless marauding beast, deaf to everything but their own roar of defiance. We have reached the point where the President may have to do the unthinkable in order to make the Republican mob hear "Enough!"
As our budget deadline looms and the debt ceiling crisis rises just over its shoulder, this New York Times editorial sums up the situation. (Any underlines are mine. My comments are indented and printed in italics.)"On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent the House a very serious warning that, for the first time, the United States would be unable to pay its bills beginning on Oct. 17 if the debt ceiling is not lifted. House leaders responded on Thursday with one of the least serious negotiating proposals in modern Congressional history: a jaw-dropping list of ransom demands containing more than a dozen discredited Republican policy fantasies.
We'll refrain from deliberately sabotaging the global economy, Speaker John Boehner and the other leaders said, if President Obama allows more oil drilling on federal lands. And drops regulations on greenhouse gases. And builds the Keystone XL oil pipeline. And stops paying for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And makes it harder to sue for medical malpractice. And, of course, halts health care reform for a year."
Some Republican members of the House were quoted this past week as saying they were forced to make their demands because the President will not negotiate with their leadership. They have conveniently forgotten that the last time President Obama and Speaker Boehner negotiated and reached a budget agreement, House membership rejected it out of hand. Their idea of negotiation seems to be give-me-exactly-what-I-want-and-then-I'll-ask-for-more."The list would be laughable if the threat were not so serious. A failure to raise the debt ceiling would cause a default on government debt, shattering the world's faith in Treasury bonds as an investment vehicle and almost certainly bringing on another economic downturn. Unlike a government shutdown, a default could leave the Treasury without enough money to pay Social Security benefits or the paychecks of troops.
The full effects remain unknown because no Congress has ever allowed the government to go over the brink before."
But then, no Congress has ever been in the hands of this specialized species of Representative--a childish, tone-deaf, unable to see beyond their own ego breed that has cowed a weak Speaker into, not only following their fantasy parade, but into encouraging their one-minded demonstration of stupidity in order to preserve his own seat at the head of the table."Any sober-minded lawmaker should realize that the danger of trifling with the debt limit is far too high. But Mr. Boehner has been encouraging his members to toss their pet projects...onto the towering list of demands...
...The absurdity of the list shows just how important it is that Mr. Obama ignore every demand and force the House extremists to decide whether they really want to be responsible for an economic catastrophe. He made a mistake by negotiating in 2011, hoping to reach a grand bargain; that produced the corrosive sequester cuts.
To prevent the House from making every debt-ceiling increase an opportunity to issue extortionist demands for rejected policies they can achieve in no other way, the president has to put an end to the routine creation of emergencies once and for all by simply saying no."
The possible consequences are terrifying; but Tea Party conservative Republicans have got to be shown that the word "no" can be applied to them. Only then will there be any chance that they will take a step away from conservative lobbyists like the Koch brothers and realize that there are other voices in this country, and we aren't singing "Hallelujah!"
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