There's good news and bad news for the country's finances over the coming year. Revenue has been robust enough that the debt ceiling likely won't be hit in October of this year as most economists predicted. Instead, it could come as late as the beginning of next year, as the presidential primaries really heat up. That means Sen. Ted Cruz is
already preparing for some grandstanding.
The last time Congress raised the debt limit, in February 2014, it did so only over a filibuster by Sen. Ted Cruz.
The issue is already beginning to creep into the race for the White House, with the Texas Republican now reminding voters of that stand. He crows on his presidential campaign website that he "set an early high standard for meaningful Republican opposition to increasing the debt limit."
In a preview of the GOP divide the issue will likely reopen, rival presidential candidate Lindsey Graham is urging a more pragmatic approach.
"At the end of the day, something has to be done—we can’t default," the South Carolina senator told reporters at a Republican gathering last month in Utah. "This is going to be a challenge for our party. There will be a bunch of people in our party and [among Democrats] saying, 'no, no, no.' Somebody's got to find a way to say 'yes.'"
Once more, Graham dooms his own presidential campaign by alienating the rabid tea party base, which doesn't care if the nation defaults just as long as somebody fights President Obama. And that somebody will of course be Cruz. Because he's Ted Cruz. The result will likely be the same as last time—a game of chicken in which Republicans have to accept Democrats' help and pass a clean debt ceiling hike because most of those in charge do realize that letting the nation go into default would be a disaster. Only this time Cruz will be filibustering his own leadership. And the tea party crowd will go wild.