Compare these quotes from House Republicans indicating that their debt limit position is a bluff...
“I would hope that no one looks at the debt ceiling as a leverage point. It is a point of decision. But it’s not a ‘hey, I’ll throw our credit history into the tank if you don’t do this,’” said Rep. James Lankford, a member of the House GOP leadership team. [...]
“Nobody wants to default,” [Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana] said. “We’re not using the debt limit per se as leverage, we’re using the other elements…sequestration, the fact we’re in a shutdown now. That’s pressure.”
“Ain’t gonna happen,” Rep. Mike Simpson told USA Today on Thursday when asked whether the country was going to default.
...to
these quotes from House Republicans suggesting that they're ready to shut the economy down:
"I don't think there are 218 votes to raise the debt ceiling without some sort of effort to deal with the deficit," said Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.). "Who are these Republicans who are going to vote for the debt-ceiling increase with absolutely no effort to deal with the deficit?"
Louisiana GOP Rep. John Fleming, an outspoken conservative, was even more direct: "I don't see any way he would get a debt ceiling passed in the House without some conditions."
Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner is
supposedly telling colleagues in private that if push comes to shove, he'll let Democrats supply most of the votes needed to raise the debt ceiling, but publicly his spokesman is still saying that the debt limit won't get increased without major concessions from Democrats.
Until and unless we actually hit the debt limit deadline without raising it, we won't know if this second group of Republicans is bluffing or if it is serious, but either way, the only way to respond to their behavior is to do exactly what President Obama says he is going to do: Refuse to negotiate over Congress's basic responsibility to allow the country to pay the bills it has already incurred. To do otherwise would be to incentivize this sort of reckless bomb-throwing and to hand power over to nihilists willing to blow up the economy in order to exert their will.
The good news is that just as there are enough votes in Congress to reopen the government with a clean funding bill, there are enough votes in the House to raise the debt limit with no strings attached. The bad news is that until and unless House Speaker John Boehner allows these members to vote, the country will be held hostage.