The Republican Party Takes Flight
It is said that women so baffled Sigmund Freud that he asked, with exasperation, what do they want?! We posit that Freud never met a Republican:
House Republicans are demanding that President Biden agree to policy concessions in exchange for their support in raising the nation’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit. But it is not clear — even to leading GOP officials — what they’re asking Biden to do.
As Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) evades questions about his demands on the debt ceiling, which must be lifted to avoid an economically catastrophic government default, dozens of House Republicans and other conservatives have put forward their own ideas for what McCarthy should bring to the negotiating table.
“How dare you let us write blank checks,” the Republicans —who continue to cut taxes on billionaires and corporations without accompanying new sources of revenue to make up for it— bellowed.
The debt ceiling is a legal limit on how much the country can borrow, and it’s been raised or suspended routinely in the past, including three times when Donald Trump was president. The debt accumulated over the years is now near the current $31.4 trillion limit, and as a share of the nation’s economy, it’s rapidly approaching the record set after World War II.
Republican lawmakers say they want to rein in borrowing in exchange for voting to raise the cap. However, at least one of their ideas — rescinding newly approved funding for the Internal Revenue Service — is likely to reduce tax collections and therefore increase borrowing, according to nonpartisan estimates. Other proposals would force major cuts to programs that millions of Americans depend on, which could create political vulnerabilities for the GOP nationally.
It’s more magical thinking from Republicans that tax cuts = revenue growth when they are in charge, and profligate spending when Democrats are in charge. Anyway, President Handsome Joe Biden wisely is asking K-Mac (who is really bad at his job) to show his work.
Democrats, however, see in the GOP’s ideas an opportunity to emphasize the different visions between the parties over federal spending. White House aides argue that making policy concessions in exchange for raising the debt limit would reward Republicans for holding the U.S. economy hostage. Biden has also pushed McCarthy to release his own budget, believing all the options the GOP has discussed would hurt them politically.
I do not know how this ends, but my guess is, Not Well. The Very Serious People are saying that Biden has to find a way to let K-Mac save face, which is frankly BS. As we learned from all the Die Hard movies, you never negotiate with hostage takers, and make no mistake, this is the Republicans in the role of Alan Rickman, admittedly without the charm.
If Republicans are demanding to decrease the deficit, they need to sunset all the tax breaks that they gave to billionaires and corporations since Reagan. If they ever really have a proposal, I hope that is Joe’s counter-offer.
Mock Paper Scissors 
The party of transparency would have to kill you if they told you what their budget looked like.
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I think they will try to kill us anyway…because sumpin’-sumpin’ pro-life.
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Killing us is their plan.
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This is what to expect from the Twitter Edgelord Killer Klown Kaucus , Quevin!
To steal a phrase “You built that!”
Be so cool if Dark Brandon told him “yippee-kay-yay, motherfucker”
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Not even a hostage note. Let’s see how many Ds fall for it this time.
And get rid of them.
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But it is not clear — even to leading GOP officials — what they’re asking Biden to do.
You know, “support”, like lifting AND separating,
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“You are in a position to demand nothing, sir.” – Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
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Fuck him and fuck them and everyone who looks like them. Short and sweet.
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It amazes me (and not in any good way) the extent to which some of our elected officials are ignorant of so much, such as the difference between ‘debt’ and ‘deficit’, or how the national debt is money already spent, and all the spending cuts in the world won’t lower the current debt. The U.S. Constitution has a very low bar in terms of qualifications/requirements to hold a seat in the U.S. Congress … I think it’s time to amend that to include certain educational and experience requirements, and perhaps even a basic test such as immigrants must pass in order to become citizens.
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I believe the United States switched to fiat currency in the last century. Run the money presses until the gimbals smoke! So long as American money is accepted, it’s all good.
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Tangentially on topic, but I have been giggling all morning over this. The GOP majority in the AZ House are trying their own hostage negotiations: proposing a massively scaled-down budget to present to Governor Katie Hobbs as a fait accompli to force her hand right off the bat in budget
negotiationsdemands.They failed to get the requisite 31 votes to pass it…because one of their own newly elected crazies voted against it.
HAHAHAHA the Hostage takers taken hostage by one of their own!
Here’s the link but I think it’s subscribers only, my local rag has a giant paywall
https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/arizona-gop-plan-for-skinny-budget-crumbles-for-now/article_a845e96c-a667-11ed-8828-9bfac11431e5.html
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