- by New Deal democrat
Yesterday I made an out-of-the-box proposal to end the government shutdown / debt ceiling crisis in Washington. It boils down to the GOP agreeing to a permanent repeal of the debt ceiling law in return for Democratic concessions for a debt ceiling increase now.
This morning it was adopted by Greg Sargent of the Washington Post in an article called "A way out of the Crisis."
The trial balloon has now been floated. As Sargent correctly notes:
If Republicans refuse this request, it will be a clarifying moment: It will confirm Republicans are fully intent to use the threat of default as leverage to get what they want in later showdowns. And the refusal to renounce this tactic will become what kills any hopes of a compromise. “If a deal fails on that basis, it becomes clear that Republicans are intent on using this as a weapon of extortion over and over again.”A big thank-you to Greg Sargent, and if somebody else forwarded my post to him, a big thank-you to that person as well.
