Yes, a hostage crisis. According to the Democrats, Americans will be held hostage if the Republicans get their way.

Is the hostage a woman from Chicago named Janet?

“I brought this picture because this is a hostage from my district,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), hauling a large photo of a constituent to the microphone during yet another news conference. “Her name is Janet, and she called my office in tears. She was so afraid. She is 64 years old. Her income is $1,200 a month. She has chronic mental illness. She cannot work. She would like to work, but she cannot. And she is so afraid that if they do what they’re going to do, that she cannot pay the rent, she cannot pay for any food, she can’t pay for the medication that she needs.”

Yes, that’s the new narrative. If Democrats don’t get their way, the debt ceiling will be breached and the economy will crater leaving Republicans holding Americans hostage to their whims. 

The Democrats don’t like the fact that Republicans want spending levels to stay at the SAME level as 2022! That’s not acceptable. Oh no. Let’s spend MORE so we can hit all of our progressive targets such as the Green New Deal with windmills and solar showing ROI’s of ZERO. And we NEED those IRS agents, but we might be willing to get by with a few less new hires.

Aiming to minimize those cuts, Biden aides have instead opened the door to repurposing some of the $80 billion approved last year for the IRS as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. It is unclear exactly how much the final agreement might strip from the IRS, but one of the people familiar with the matter said it is unlikely to be more than $10 billion. White House officials think the potential cuts would not compromise the administration’s goals to significantly improve enforcement actions against wealthy tax cheats and boost the agency’s customer service, according to a third person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect internal deliberations. 

But no, let’s start calling this a hostage crisis since the liberals aren’t getting their way. 

The situation is particularly galling to Democrats because, while it is hard-right Republicans who have pushed the nation to the brink of default by refusing to raise the debt limit without spending cuts, they are all but certain to oppose any final compromise. Even if Republicans meet their threshold of winning over a majority of their members for the package, it could still require backing from scores of Democrats to pass.

The issue of the debt ceiling is serious business as both Republicans AND Democrats have gotten us into this fix. Then again, we Americans have as well for neglecting our civic responsibility of holding our leadership accountable to…US. 

Meanwhile, while Rome is burning, what is Joe Biden doing? 

Told Biden was planning to leave Washington for the weekend, one House Democrat expressed disbelief.

“Please tell me that’s not true,” said the lawmaker. https://t.co/MApgjkg8Aj

— Sam Stein (@samstein) May 25, 2023

Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be. Skipping town after barely working three days a week has been Joe’s MO since the campaign! Furthermore, he and his handlers don’t seem to think this debt ceiling is all that bad, otherwise they wouldn’t have waited 97 days to step up to the table! 

“It’s time to bring the president off the bench, or bring somebody off the bench. No one’s responding to anything. Kevin’s consistently on message,” said one House Dem. “We have the Oval Office. I’ve never seen anything like it.”https://t.co/hMm8pnDvbo

via @jenhab @adamcancryn

— Sam Stein (@samstein) May 25, 2023

Yes, the Republicans this time around have been working their butts off crafting legislation and attempting to negotiate. They’ve come to the table time and again to try and get resolution on the debt ceiling. Now all Democrats can do is claim Americans are held hostage and Republicans are terrorists for wanting future spending cuts! 

Jamaal Bowman: "We don't negotiate with terrorists globally, why are we gonna negotiate with the economic terrorists here that are the Republican Party?" pic.twitter.com/HTU8VwdDul

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 25, 2023

But SURE! The White House is negotiating in good faith! 

Negotiating in “good faith” while skipping town for yet another vacation. Is it any wonder that Joe’s polling numbers are really starting to tank? 

Just a third of Americans say that Biden winning in 2024 would be a step forward or a triumph for the country (33%). At the same time, the survey finds a decline in favorable views of Biden over the past six months, from 42% in December to 35% now. And results from the same poll released earlier this week showed Biden’s approval rating for handling the presidency at 40%, among the lowest for any first-term president since Dwight Eisenhower at this point in their term.

That’s not really not a good look when we are facing a debt ceiling limit that, if not addressed in the next few days, really could mean that our military and veterans, along with those receiving Social Security might not get paid. 

I hate to say it, but we DO need the debt ceiling raised. And then what we ALL need to do is start holding our elected officials feet to the fire. 

We don’t need money spent on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion crap in our military. We need them battle ready and DEI doesn’t cut it. 

We don’t need billions shoveled to Ukraine with zero oversight. That gravy train needs to come to a screeching halt. 

We don’t need our State Department spending money pandering to the LGBTQXYZ crowd when we have major foreign policy issues pending. 

We don’t need Green New Deal climate change subsidies, we need our borders secured! 

Democrats AND Republicans need to quit playing the asinine word games and DO THEIR DAMNED JOB. Quit spending money like drunken sailors and start being fiscally responsible. It’s doable whether they want to admit it or not. 

Feature Photo Credit: Debt Meter via iStock, cropped and modified