The hostage takers being the House Republicans. And the hostage being democratic government.
In their anarcho-libertarian effort to destroy the federal government by doing anything to restrict its operation and prevent it from effectuating its obligations, the House Republicans plan to use the vote on raising the debt ceiling to offer the Senate and the administration a choice: either adopt the 2012 Republican blueprint or have the country go into default. With the resulting consequences to its credit standing and to the millions who depend on the federal government for their day to day survival.
House Republicans have planned for weeks now to try to avert a government shutdown by promising their members an epic fight over the debt ceiling. Yesterday they began circulating their initial ransom list of demands that President Obama and Senate Democrats must meet or else watch the world economy melt down. It is, uh, rather extensive, and really needs to be read in full to appreciate its megalomaniacal ambition:
http://nymag.com/...
One Year Obamacare delay
Tax Reform Instructions
• Similar to a bill we passed last fall, laying out broad from Ryan Budget principles for what tax reform should look like.
• Gives fast track authority for tax reform legislation
. . . .
Keystone Pipeline
. . . .
Offshore drilling
Energy production on federal lands
. . . .
• Regulatory reform
. . . .
Blocking Net Neutrality
Mandatory Spending Reforms
. . . .
• Federal Employee retirement reform
• Ending the Dodd Frank bailout fund
• Transitioning CFPB funding to Appropriations
• Child Tax Credit Reform to prevent fraud
• Repealing the Social Services Block grant
Health Spending Reforms
• Means testing Medicare
• Repealing a Medicaid Provider tax gimmick
• Tort reform
• Altering Disproportion Share Hospitals
• Repealing the Public Health trust Fund
Does that list sound vaguely familiar? It’s Mitt Romney’s 2012 economic plan.
. . . .
The fact that a major party could even propose anything like this is a display of astonishing contempt for democratic norms. Republicans ran on this plan and lost by 5 million votes. They also lost the Senate and received a million fewer votes in the House but held control owing to favorable district lines. Is there an example in American history of a losing party issuing threats to force the majority party to implement its rejected agenda?
What can be done to prevent or end this hostage taking? That will be explored in a future diary. Suffice it to say that at minimum Obama will need to take his case to the people, through a full court press. State that this type of hostage taking will no longer be tolerated. That the Republican effort to enact their defeated agenda at the threat of destroying the nation's credit standing, and the government's ability to function, must come to an end now and in the future.