As evidenced by prior crises, a downgrade of U.S. credit and this latest McCarthy resignation, the debt ceiling vote - historically ceremonial and irrelevant - has become fully weaponized. This faux conceit - which neither limits the amount of U.S. indebtedness, nor eliminates a penny of the U.S.'s liability for such debt - now exists solely as an inadvertent, existential threat to the economy, a recurring obstacle to democratic governance, and an irresistible lure to the most radical groups that seek power through mayhem and intimidation. In our unstable times, it hard to think of anything as potentially destructive, and simultaneously useless, as the debt ceiling.
Oddly, one man - lame duck Republican House Speaker John Boehner - stands uniquely positioned to do his own political party and the entire country a tremendous favor by eliminating this debt ceiling. Noting that most expect/hope that Boehner will increase the debt ceiling before he goes, Paul Waldman asks:
As long as he's doing that, why not bring up a bill to do away with the debt ceiling altogether? Once again, Republicans in Congress would object, and the bill would probably pass with mostly Democratic votes. The Republicans would say that Boehner is giving away a valuable weapon — because threatening to destroy the economy can get people to do a lot.
But if we actually started debating whether to permanently do away with the debt ceiling, people might realize that there's no rational reason to keep it. And there might be a chance to restore at least some small measure of sanity to the federal government.
Even the Wall Street Journal, in an editorial headlined
"Repeal the Debt Ceiling," has urged Boehner to get rid of the debt ceiling threat, asking: "Why continue the pretense of fighting over a debt limit that doesn't limit debt?"
Now, I'll admit that when I've read these and other appeals to Boehner to "step up to history," to do something dramatic and repeal the debt ceiling, I've tended to roll my eyes. But as I think about it . . . my cheap cynicism should not allow me to be complicit in blowing this opportunity. The truth is that we are at a unique point, with a particular leader (Mr. Boehner), who has the chance to achieve something genuinely special - something that would not only ensure his place in history, but would be terrific and necessary both for his own political party and the country. Simply, John Boehner should and could repeal the debt ceiling. Now, let me briefly explain why this is a realistic possibility.
First, unlike just two months ago, John Boehner is free. As Josh Marshall of TPM points out, after his resignation, and the Republican crack-up in failing to name any successor, Boehner is "basically the Man of Steel and indestructible for almost 18 months." He neither fears, nor owes, anyone. For the first time, not only is Boehner free to represent the institution more widely (as opposed to just his Republican party), but some members of the "establishment" wing of his party would cooperate in ending this debt ceiling albatross. For example, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly promised that Republicans will not allow a debt ceiling default. And Republican Rep. Peter King the other day stated "Yes, I hope he does [raise the debt ceiling]," offering to work with Democrats and just a day after he criticized the Republican party for acting like a "banana republic." The fact is that this debt ceiling mania has finally begun to paralyze, and take hostage, the Republican party itself.
Second, and this is crucial, Boehner doesn't really need to dramatically kill the debt ceiling. House Speaker Gephardt passed the "Gephardt Rule," which (sensibly) provided - from 1979 until 1995 (16 years!) - that the debt ceiling was "deemed to be raised" in a sufficient amount automatically with the passage of the associated spending bills. Problem solved. As recently as 2014, many House Republicans were openly debating returning to this Gephardt Rule. The key - in this moment - is simply to pass a law similarly disarming the debt ceiling threat that would require a House, Senate and President to reinstate. If future generations want to reinstate this nonsense (knowing what we know now), well - that never could have been avoided anyway.
Third, let's get real . . . where is John Boehner's next paycheck coming from? K-Street and corporate America. Guess what? They want to repeal this debt ceiling threat as much as anyone else:
“You don’t put the full faith and credit of the United States’ finances at risk,” said David M. Cote, chairman of Honeywell and a Republican member of the 2010 Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission. “The whole idea of using debt ceiling that way or saying ‘I’ll do this horrible thing to all of us unless you give in’ just doesn’t make any sense for anybody. It makes me very nervous. It’s not a smart way to run the country.”
As the WashPo reported:
A sprawling coalition of Wall Street and Main Street business leaders sent an unmistakable message to lawmakers Tuesday: Enough squabbling. Get the debt ceiling raised.
The message, sent in a letter to President Obama and every member of Congress, puts pressure on GOP lawmakers, who have staked out an uncompromising stance against raising taxes in the partisan wrangling over the country’s borrowing limit. . . .
“The debt default would be exponentially more painful than anything else,” said another senior executive at a major business lobbying group.
The letter, signed by hundreds of senior company executives and groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, said that “it is critical that the U.S. government not default in any way” and urges lawmakers “to put aside partisan differences and act in the nation’s best interest.”
“The business community in large numbers is saying to our leaders in Washington, ‘Do your job,’ ” said Business Roundtable President John Engler, a former Republican governor of Michigan. “Failure to raise the debt ceiling would strike an immediate and serious blow to any economic recovery, and failure to make significant progress on long-term debt reduction will continue the uncertainty which is hampering our investment climate.”
Or as Bloomberg Business reported:
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein left a White House meeting with President Barack Obama and said lawmakers are risking the economic recovery if they don’t raise the federal debt ceiling.
Blankfein was among a group of financial-industry executives including JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon and Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America Corp., who met with the president today, the second day of a partial government shutdown. Democrats and Republicans are deadlocked on spending legislation and already are battling over raising the U.S. debt limit, which is required by later this month to avoid a default. . . .
“There’s precedent for a government shutdown; there’s no precedent for default,” Blankfein said. “We really haven’t seen this before and I’m not anxious to be part of the process to witness this.”
Let's keep score here: Boehner, McConnell, other Republicans, President Obama, the Democratic party and the business community all want to see the debt ceiling repealed. Even given all that, I would not seriously have thought that Boehner could have tampered with the debt ceiling before. But now Boehner is not a "lame duck" so much as a "liberated duck." He has a genuine, unique opportunity now to do something important for his country, his party, and his own legacy.
And we all need to figure out a way support, push, cajole and (yes) compromise to make this happen. It is that important, and I'm not sure when an opportunity like this may appear again in the future.
Like others, I've always seen a certain 1960's "Mad Men" quality to John Boehner. In that vein, I would like to remind him of a Puliziter prize-winning book from that era by JFK called "Profiles in Courage," that praised politicians "who defied the opinions of their party and constituents to do what they felt was right and suffered severe criticism and losses in popularity because of their actions." This is your moment too, Mr. Boehner.
Or in a similar time-appropriate appeal: Hey John Boehner . . . "a nation turns its lonely eyes to you, woo woo woo . . . ."
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And now, your moment of Zen: