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Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The DC struggle to understand Democratic resolve on the debt ceiling [1]
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Date: 2023-05-03
The Washington Post:
House Democrats maneuver to force a debt-ceiling vote as default looms House Democrats began a process Tuesday that could allow them to bypass the chamber’s Republican leaders in passing legislation to raise the nation’s debt ceiling — if they can get a handful of GOP members to join the effort. In a letter to colleagues, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said the maneuver “preserves an important option” as a standoff continues between the White House and House Republicans ahead of a looming default on U.S. debt as early as June 1. Jeffries said Democrats had crafted a “special rule” that could allow a bipartisan measure to be considered on the House floor through use of a so-called “discharge petition” — a procedure that is cumbersome, time-consuming and rarely successful. Such a petition would require 218 votes to discharge, or release a bill from committee, to start the process for a vote in the full House.
The maneuver rarely succeeds, but then again, these aren’t normal times. But so we are clear: The so-called Republican “moderates” in the House are anything but.
The New York Times:
Is the Debt Limit Constitutional? Biden Aides Are Debating It. As the government heads toward a possible default on its debt as soon as next month, officials are entertaining a legal theory that previous administrations ruled out. Progressive groups have encouraged Mr. Biden to take actions meant to circumvent Congress on the debt limit and continue uninterrupted spending, like minting a $1 trillion coin to deposit with the Federal Reserve. Internally, administration officials have rejected most of them. Publicly, Biden aides have said the only way to avert a crisis is for Congress to act. “I know you probably get tired of me saying this from here over and over again, but it is true,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said on Thursday, after referring a question about the 14th Amendment to the Treasury Department. “It is their constitutional duty to get this done.” But inside the administration, it remains an open question what Treasury would do if Congress does not raise the limit in time — because, many officials say, the law is unclear and so is the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to tax and spend.
Previous administrations didn’t have radical Republicans to contend with. And/but in any case, veterans of the Obama administration (including Joe Biden) think it was a mistake to ever negotiate with Republicans over the good faith and credit of the United States.
They are not keen on repeating that mistake.
x “The idea that somehow half of the population is going to lose a fundamental right that we've had for 50 years and just get over it in a month or two was absolutely ludicrous.”
https://t.co/ofipSQhQhM — The Recount (@therecount) May 1, 2023
Ariel Edwards-Levy/CNN:
Why are so many Americans unhappy with the state of the US today? Here’s what they said in CNN’s latest poll Among the 69% who said things were going either pretty or very badly, dim views of the nation’s economic conditions were a top driver. The smaller share who were more positive often cited their own, rosier takes on the economy. Other factors that influenced Americans’ outlooks, whether positive or negative, included their views of the current occupant of the White House, opinions on social issues, conclusions drawn from their daily lives or a combination of disparate concerns. Their explanations help shed light on what respondents really mean when they answer the broad, state-of-the-nation questions frequently included on surveys.
Alan Elrod/Arc Digital:
Marjorie Taylor Greene and The Ties That Bind What MTG's comments about real and fake parents reveal about how the hard right views the family and the nation These were Greene’s words on adoptive parents on her own show: The idea that mom and dad together—not fake mom and fake dad—but the biological mom and biological dad, can raise their children together and do what’s right for their children, raising them to be confident in who they are, their identity, their identity is, you know, they’re a child made by God. The suggestion here is that being a real parent involves foisting the “right” worldview into one’s child. The “biological” condition is secondary—what’s most constitutive of real parenthood, according to Greene, is imbuing a child with the correct “identity.” I have no doubt that, for Greene, an adoptive parent who raises her kids to think and act the way Greene does would be seen as a more legitimate parent than a biological parent who raises her kids to have diametrically opposed views to Greene’s. This means the “fake” nature of the adoptive parent is subordinate to the question of ideological alignment, which broadly speaking is how many on the hard right approach the legitimacy of parents who are raising children in ways they dislike.
Max Burns/NBC:
Missouri GOP’s dark vision for the future puts democracy on the back-burner One proposal in the "Show Me State" would require ballot initiatives to get 60% support to succeed. One proposed revision would increase the requirement for passing a constitutional amendment from the current simple majority to 57%. Another, from the Missouri House, would jack the required support all the way up to 60%. That’s in a state in which only about 40% identify as Republicans, and where most progressive ballot measures historically win about 50-55% of the popular vote. In practice, that means almost every ballot measure put to the people will fail. It’s a sweepingly anti-democratic idea. And that’s just how the GOP wants it. The proposal’s supporters counter that amendments can still pass statewide with a simple majority, provided they also win approval in five of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. There’s just one problem: Republicans recently redrew the state’s congressional maps, and they ensured five of their shamelessly gerrymandered districts were decidedly more Republican-leaning than the rest of the state.
A podcast interview with Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse:
x YouTube Video
Adam Serwer/The Atlantic:
[END]
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