While the Republican Congress is dealing with the death throes of Trumpcare, there's a really big thing that really has to be passed looming. And Republicans are divided on that, too.
Republicans are divided over whether to raise the debt ceiling before the August recess, with senators preferring to act soon and members of the more conservative House reluctant to take the contentious vote before the break. […]
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is considering work this week on approving President Donald Trump’s nominations, reauthorizing Food and Drug Administration user fees, the annual defense policy bill and veterans legislation allowing vets to access medical care outside the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Senate GOP leaders might attach a debt ceiling increase to the veterans bill — though no final decision has been made and discussions are still largely at the staff level.
Either way, Senate Republicans have made clear they prefer raising the debt ceiling before leaving for recess the second week of August. […]
The House has other plans. GOP leaders and staff have vowed for weeks to raise the debt ceiling before the “X date” of default but also downplayed the possibility that the date would fall before the summer break.
The big Obamacare repeal failure creates a whole lot of other headaches for McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan—namely the extremists in both of their caucuses. They're both going to be looking for challenges to their leadership from the right, and thus are going to be needing to appease those extremes. Which means, potentially, playing games with the debt ceiling to get those guys what they want.
The prospect of a Republican Congress shutting their own government down is not unimaginable. Which tells you just how broken everything is.