The ostensible point of the Republicans’ debt ceiling crisis is to pursue deficit reduction. It’s a rather ironic goal given the GOP’s recent track record of adding trillions to the debt, and it’s a difficult goal to take seriously given the party’s indifference to the issue whenever a Republican president is in office, but for now, let’s put that aside.
What’s more, it’s worth noting that policymakers are perfectly capable of pursuing deficit reduction without Republicans threatening to harm Americans on purpose, but let’s put that aside, too.
Instead, let’s consider how officials might go about pursuing this priority.
A New York Times editorial noted last week, “Given the popularity of the programs that account for the vast majority of federal spending, the most sensible way for the United States to reduce its reliance on borrowed money is primarily by raising taxes.”
Evidently, White House officials were thinking along the same lines. The Washington Post reported that Republicans didn’t much care.
The White House recently gave Republican congressional leadership a list of proposals to reduce the deficit by closing tax loopholes during the ongoing negotiations over the federal budget and the debt ceiling. But Republican negotiators rejected every item, according to three people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential deliberations.
According to the report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, senior White House officials, engaged with congressional negotiators, floated a possible deal. Note, presidential aides didn’t bother to push the idea of higher tax rates on the wealthy or big corporations — a policy that GOP officials would obviously never consider — but they instead raised the prospect of lowering the deficit by closing several existing tax loopholes, while leaving income tax rates untouched.
Republicans “swiftly” said no — to all of the White House proposals.
GOP leaders say they’re desperate to bring the budget closer to balance, which could be achieved through increased revenues, but when the possibility of closing some tax loopholes come up, it quickly becomes clear that this is not a door Republicans are willing to even consider opening.
Obviously, for those who’ve followed American politics in recent decades, none of this comes as a surprise. But in the context of the GOP’s ongoing debt ceiling crisis, it’s a highly relevant detail.
The conventional wisdom suggests that Democrats and Republicans will need to come to some kind of “compromise.” But no one should be fooled: GOP leaders aren’t looking for President Joe Biden to make some tradeoffs in exchange for some rewards. Rather, Republicans expect the Democratic White House to surrender and pay a hefty ransom in order to convince GOP lawmakers to temporarily let their hostage go.
With time running out, it seems the two parties are so far apart that they don’t even agree on the process they’re currently participating in. The fact that the White House floated closing tax loopholes suggests Democrats believe there’s room for an actual budget deal in which both sides give and take. For GOP leaders, it’s simpler: This is a straight up hostage standoff. They’re threatening to hurt people, and it’s up to Democrats to satisfy them. They’re not prepared to make concessions; they’re prepared to accept them. This isn’t a policy discussion; it’s extortion. For Republicans, the range of solutions is quite limited: As far as GOP leaders are concerned, Democrats should expect nothing. Keep this in mind the next time McCarthy emphasizes the importance of bipartisan “talks.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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