Wingnuttia Takes Itself Hostage

Tiger Beat on the Potomac (thanks Charlie!) other morning email thingie:

YELLEN IN THE HOUSE — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will launch today what is expected to be a flurry of administration appearances on Capitol Hill to defend President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal that landed just yesterday.

Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) wanted his panel to get prompt testimony from Yellen, and she’ll be there, bright and early, less than 24 hours after the release of the president’s blueprint.

Expect some heat as Republicans take their first official shots at the Biden budget. The proposal is an opening volley for an array of fiscal fights ahead, from the impending debt limit showdown to the battle over discretionary spending levels.

And here’s what Yellen said

“Since 1789, the United States has always paid its bills on time. It must continue to do so,” Yellen told the House Ways and Means Committee. “In my assessment — and that of economists across the board — a default on our debt would trigger an economic and financial catastrophe.”

She continued: “I urge all members of Congress to come together to address the debt limit — without conditions and without waiting until the last minute.”

But of course, the he-man woman haters club Hostage Takers didn’t listen to her:

A powerful group of far-right Republicans on Friday issued a new set of demands in the fight over the debt ceiling, stressing they would only supply their votes to raise the limit if they can secure about $130 billion in spending cuts, cap federal agencies’ future budgets and unwind the Biden administration’s economic agenda.

The ultimatum from the House Freedom Caucus — led by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) — threatened to deal a massive blow to government health care, education, science and labor programs. Seeking tougher work requirements on welfare recipients and the repeal of federal funds to fight coronavirus and climate change, the conservatives’ wishlist appeared to complicate the work to clinch a deal and avert a looming fiscal calamity.

Have we mentioned that Speaker of the House K-Mac is really bad at his job?

The demands illustrate the delicate task ahead of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), whose election to the chamber’s top leadership post in January exposed the political fissures in his new, razor-thin majority. Even as Republicans have presented a united front to the White House — demanding that Biden accept spending cuts in exchange for their votes on the debt ceiling — GOP lawmakers have yet to rally around a single set of demands.

And an anonymous source —let’s call him Mac-K— offers some insight:

A senior moderate Republican in the House, who requested anonymity to speak freely about the party’s internal dynamics, described the conservatives’ ultimatum on Friday as unhelpful while talks continue among the GOP’s leaders and competing factions. Perry, meanwhile, later said he is “pretty optimistic” that other Republicans might support his caucus’s plans.

Speaking of Mac-K, er, K-Mac:

Speaker Kevin McCarthy slammed President Biden’s newly proposed budget and complained it should have been presented “more than a month ago” – but he declined to say when Republicans would present a counter-proposal.

So it’s the usual dynamics: Rudderless Republicans cannot agree on anything and would be incapable of organizing a one-car funeral procession for the Economy when they kill it. But they will drive their Clown Car off the cliff.