Republicans are the Clowns in the Debt Ceiling Circus

John Micek on Sep 30, 2021

“The Republican Party has solidified itself as the party of default, and it will be the American people who pay the price,” Schumer added.

Writing in the Washington Post, columnist Greg Sargent noted that Democrats could use the budget reconciliation process to get rid of the debt limit, first imposed during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson as a way to fund the nation's entrance into World War I. Back then, the debt ceiling was capped at a relatively quaint $15 billion, according to NPR.

There's a certain beauty to that plan. But it would require Democrats to do something they are supernaturally bad at doing: Actually using the power that comes with controlling the White House and both chambers of the legislative branch, and playing the kind of hardball it takes to get stuff done.

You can say this much for the Republicans. They might not run the White House or the U.S House, but they routinely roll right over Democrats as if they do.

The Democrats should get rid of both the debt ceiling and the filibuster - thus ending the paralysis in an already broken U.S. Senate - and do the work the voters elected them to do. You can bet Republicans would do the same if they were in charge.

It's time to take the wheels off the GOP's clown car before it runs the nation permanently into the ditch.

An award-winning political journalist, John L. Micek is Editor-in-Chief of The Pennsylvania Capital-Star in Harrisburg, Pa. Email him at jmicek@penncapital-star.com and follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek.