Still Cruz-ing
by digby
This guy is amazing:
On CNN’s State of the Union Sunday morning, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued that provisions “mitigating” the Affordable Care Act should be attached to a vote to raise the debt ceiling, a sign that the Senator who helped engineer the current government shutdown over ObamaCare is willing to take the fight to the next level.
“Number one, we should look for some signifiant structural plan to reduce government spending,” Cruz said in response to host Candy Crowley’s question about what he would seek in return for the raising of the debt limit. “Number two, we should avoid new taxes. Number three, we should look for ways to mitigate the harm from ObamaCare.”
This stopped Crowley. “You think that some facet of the president’s health care plan should be attached to an increase in the debt ceiling?”
“The debt ceiling historically has been among the best leverage that Congress has to rein in the executive,” Cruz replied. “There’s great historical precedent. Since 1978 we’ve raised the debt ceiling fifty-five times. A majority of those times, twenty-eight times, Congress has attached very specific and stringent requirements, many of the most significant spending restraints, things like Gramm Rudman [i.e. the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act], things like sequestration, came through the debt ceiling.”
“So the president’s demand, jack up the country’s credit card with no limits and no constraints, is not a reasonable one,” Cruz said.
You understand that when he says "came through the debt ceiling" he doesn't mean a direct deal from the debt ceiling, right? Sequestration was the result of a deal to raise the debt ceiling in return for a "super-committee" with triggers if they couldn't come to an agreement. The result was the drastic cuts to government we've seen over the past year, the overall levels of which have now been accepted by Democrats as the bottom line.
I do believe the White House and the Democrats recognize that there's not really any difference between agreeing to raise the debt ceiling in direct exchange for "some significant structural plan to reduce government spending" without any new taxes and a little something for the rubes on the hated Obamacare, and agreeing to some procedural device that will accomplish the same thing at a later date. Even the most fervent Obama supporter now agrees that 2011 was a big mistake. But they are very focused on the fundamental problem of the Republicans using the debt ceiling to achieve their agenda and upset the balance of power as long as Democrats hold the White House. What we don't know is if the Democrats have also convinced themselves that the optics of holding fast while dealing behind the scenes is sufficient to control this beast.
Cruz reveals what the crazies might settle for in a deal. The question remains how they could all get there while claiming to be victorious. It would be very hard to see yet another "significant structural plan to reduce spending" along with a symbolic gesture on cutting Obamacare as anything but a victory for the Republicans. Of course, the Dems could always call it a "balanced approach" and pat each other on the back for being grown-ups. It wouldn't be the first time.
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