Debt ceiling is to pay the debts incurred by Trump!

Denver CO

Description

McConnell claims that because Democrats are the governing party, they bear sole responsibility for raising the debt limit, falsely suggesting this too is a norm in American political history. Once more the GOP leader is inventing a history at odds with the facts. Since 1917, when the debt ceiling first crept into law as a byproduct of World War I spending increases, it's been raised or suspended nearly 100 times. Eighteen of those were under President Reagan, nine under George H. W. Bush, seven under his son, and four under Trump, along with numerous hikes under Democratic presidents. In recent years though, we've seen occasions when every Republican in the House and nearly every GOP senator has refused to support debt ceiling increases under Democratic presidents. McConnell is guaranteeing there will be zero Republican votes for the responsible course this time. He tries to evade blame by suggesting the debt ceiling is about debt yet to be incurred by President Biden's programs. It's not. Some 97 percent of U.S. debt was incurred before President Biden became president, and 89 percent of the increase in the debt since the ceiling was last raised, came under Trump. McConnell and his fellow Republicans championed and voted for the policies that require this increase in the debt ceiling. Default, triggered by failure to raise the debt ceiling, would be disastrous for the country, but McConnell's priority is party not country. He operates from a simple, but importantly valid, insight: if things go badly in the country, it hurts the party that controls the White House. Whether it's an economy gone sour, a war gone wrong, or even shark attacks gone wild, scores of studies show bad outcomes in the real-world lead to fewer seats for the White House party and more for the opposition. In other words, McConnell's strategy is politically smart, albeit morally repugnant.