A year ago, immediately after the debt-ceiling fiasco was resolved, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered a chilling assessment of the crisis he helped create. “What we did learn is this — it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming,” he said.
It’s one of the more important comments McConnell has ever made. He and his allies had just threatened to crash the economy on purpose, which led to severe consequences, including our first modern downgrade. But the lesson the Republicans’ Senate leader learned from the debacle is that he should do all of this all over again.
And with this in mind, this week’s comments are not surprising. McConnell realizes he can’t win the fight over taxes, so he’ll simply hold the full faith and credit of the United States hostage again until President Obama pays a ransom Republicans find satisfactory.
The top Republican in the Senate acknowledged Tuesday that President Obama has the upper hand in the debate about income tax rates on high income Americans. And he became the highest ranking GOP official to assert that Republicans will have to wait until next year, when the debt limit needs to be raised, to effectively push for cuts to social programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
McConnell specifically said he sees an “opportunity … when the debt ceiling issue arrives.” He added, “We are going to insist that we have another discussion about the future of our country in connection with the request of us to raise the debt ceiling.”
The Senate Republican leader is, to be sure, using the most diplomatic language possible, but there can be no doubt as to his underlying message: McConnell is threatening to hurt Americans on purpose.
If the political world treats this as somehow routine, we’re making an important mistake.
Remember, Mitch McConnell has been in Congress for a quarter century and never “insisted that we have another discussion about the future of our country in connection with the request of us to raise the debt ceiling.” He always treated these debt-limit increases as routine, procedural paperwork, which they were.
Indeed, even calling the debt ceiling a presidential “request” is absurd. As McConnell surely knows, the United States has obligations, one of which is to pay our bills. When the White House tells Congress it’s not a “request,” it’s a reminder. Obama isn’t saying, “Would you guys mind raising the debt ceiling for me?” He’s saying, “The bill for the money we already spent is here and it’s time to pay it.”









