House Speaker John Boehner is still kinda' sorta' trying to talk tough and convince teahadists that he's taking the debt limit hostage, but ultimately he couldn't have been more emphatic when he said yesterday on Fox News Sunday that it was be a "financial disaster" not just for America but the world if Congress were to block an increase in the debt limit. Blocking such an increase, he said, isn't on the table.
Here's the transcript:
WALLACE: If you're not willing to compromise, then the government could shut down. If you're not willing to compromise -- and I'm not saying it's your fault or the president's -- but we could default on our debt.
BOEHNER: Well, we have to work our will in the House. We have to work with our colleagues in the Senate and put something on the president's desk. But I'm going to suggest to you that we are going to keep our word to the American people, that we will, in fact, reduce wasteful Washington spending.
WALLACE: I want to -- I know you're not threatening to default. But do you agree with administration officials and other economists that defaulting on the full faith and credit of the United States would be a financial disaster?
BOEHNER: That would be a financial disaster not only for our country, but for the worldwide economy. Remember, the American people on Election Day said we want to cut spending and we want to create jobs. You can't create jobs if you default on the federal debt.
Listen, there has been a spending spree going on in Washington these last couple of years that is beyond control, and if the president is going to ask us to increase the debt limit, then he's going to have to be willing to cut up the credit cards. We've got to work together by listening to the American people and reducing these obligations that we have.
WALLACE: So, defaulting on the full faith and credit is unacceptable to you?
BOEHNER: I don't think -- I don't think it's a question that is even on the table.
As you can see, Boehner still said he wanted to see spending cuts, and he even tried to make it sound like he was going to play hardball with the debt limit ("If the president is going to ask us to increase the debt limit, then he's going to have to be willing to cut up the credit cards").
In the end, Boehner took his sole point of leverage off the table because, as he said, to actually block the debt limit increase would be a disaster. Instead, Boehner said, Republicans would "work our will in the House" but then they would work with the Senate and "put something on the president's desk." In other words, they may pass a symbolic vote in the House for austerity, but they understand that in the end, they won't get their way.
It's as clear an indication as you'll get that as scared as Republicans may be of their teahadist base, they are even more scared of what would happen if the teahadists actually got their way.