Can John Boehner keep Eric Cantor at bay? (Larry Downing/Reuters)
House Speaker John Boehner is doubling down on threats made yesterday to have another big debt-ceiling showdown, and appears to want to do it before November's election. Just to recap a bit, the last debt ceiling showdown resulted in S&P downgrading the nation's credit rating, a pissed off electorate, and a budget deal with draconian cuts. That's the budget deal that Republicans are now reneging on, because they want even more draconian cuts for everything but defense spending, which would get boosted.
Now, Boehner wants a repeat.
It’s not news that Boehner wants to offset the debt ceiling increase and complete tax reform in 2013, but he is sending a clear signal that he wants a fierce debate on these issues before the election. [...]
It showed that the speaker, hobbled by miscues, is still willing to take a tough line—no debt ceiling hike without greater spending cuts, and a yearlong extension of current tax rates in exchange for an overhaul of the corporate and individual code in 2013.
But some of Boehner’s comments are causing grumbling in Republican circles in the Capitol. There is worry that Boehner is once again aiming for a “grand bargain” with President Barack Obama. He’s sure to find detractors—including Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)—who think the White House is too ideologically different to work with. Cantor’s operation was mum on Boehner’s Tuesday remarks.
So why is he doing this? Part of it could be tea party muscle flexing to appease the fringe of his caucus and try to stave off a leadership challenge. It could be that he actually was successful in 2011 in getting massive spending cuts: more than $900 billion in immediate spending cuts, as well as $1.2 trillion in triggered spending cuts. It could also be a gambit at a grand bargain with President Obama, where taking as extreme a position as possible has proven effective in dragging the negotiations right. It could be his setting up the board to try to protect the Bush tax cuts come lame-duck session time. Pre-emptive hostage-taking of the debt ceiling might be the only leverage the Republicans will have to try to negotiate a tax cut deal with the White House.
In order to position for all of these things coming down in the post-election session, particularly in securing his continued leadership position, Boehner could be endangering Republican election prospects. Republicans have set out a very clear vision, embraced by Mitt Romney, that is at odds with what the American people say they want in all of the polling. The Republicans want to actually lower taxes for the wealthy, end Medicare as we know it, drastically cut domestic spending to the point of making people go hungry, and increase defense spending.
That's the Republican platform, with a dash of economy-ruining, government shut-down brinksmanship thrown in, which is a huge gift to Democrats in the campaign. It's the corner Boehner chose to let himself be painted into by pandering to his crazy caucus. And it's the corner where Obama should leave him, offering no way out.