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Eleven spineless Senate Republicans voted, as instructed by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, gave the Democrats a win on the debt ceiling. They voted, 61-38, on a procedural issue to forego the filibuster. The Senate then voted on party lines (50-48) to raise the debt ceiling until December. They voted to punt. The issue now goes to the House and the Biden Junta has already made it known that Creepy Joe can’t wait to sign it.
Moments before the Senate took the procedural vote on the filibuster President Donald Trump issued a statement in which he implored the spineless Republicans hold fast. He said to:
“not vote for this terrible deal being pushed by folding Mitch McConnell. Stand strong for our Country. The American people are with you!”
I think Donald Trump was/is one of our top five great Presidents, but he hasn’t learned his lesson about the spineless Republicans. The lesson is that Republicans like to be in the minority and don’t want to have to lead. If Trump gets reelected in 2024, he is going to have to remember this. This is not the first time McConnel has shivved us in the back and it won’t be the last.
Senator Mitch McConnell caved to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer after Schumer threatened to “blow up” the Senate by eliminating the filibuster. Mitch the Turtle then made an offer to Schumer:
Earlier Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had accepted McConnell’s offer of a short-term increase to the debt ceiling after Democrats had balked at the GOP’s insistence that the majority party use parliamentary procedures to pass an extension with 51 votes rather than the usual 60.
The Democrats “balked”? What parliamentary procedures could the Democrats have used. I will let Senator Ted Cruz explain:
Sen. @tedcruz on Democrats' ability to raise the debt ceiling: "They could've done it with only Democratic votes and there was not a single thing Republicans could've done to stop them. They know that. They don't dispute that. So why are we facing a crisis?" pic.twitter.com/GyNx8iLrZ9
— The Hill (@thehill) October 7, 2021
The Democrats could have raised the debt ceiling using budget reconciliation. The Senate Parliamentarian said it could be done. Nothing that the Republicans could have done would have stopped the Democrats. But, the Republicans are spineless, weaselly, mouth-breathers. Well, eleven Republicans are. The eleven Republicans who gave the Democrats a win are:
The 11 Rs joining all 50 members of Dem caucus, group'd:
Leaders –
McConnell
Thune
Barrasso
CornynRetiring –
Blunt*
Portman
ShelbyMods –
Capito
Collins
MurkowskiFriend of Thune/MM:
Capito
Rounds* Blunt qualifies as leader/retiree.
— Paul Kane (@pkcapitol) October 8, 2021
By making it 61 instead of 60, no one Republican can be blamed. No, we will blame all of them. Between the vote to forego the filibuster and the party line vote to raise the debt ceiling until December 31, Senator Amy Klobuchar jumped out to brag to Chris Hayes of MSNBC about the Mitch McConnell caving.
As much as I despise Mitch McConnell, I despise people who gloat even more. Amy is so worried about rising interest rates and unemployment for the “normals” in our country, she needs to go talk to Creepy Joe. Hayes gloats that not only did McConnell cave, he screwed his caucus on this. Klobuchar and Hayes can both go eat a salad with a comb.
The next vote to raise the debt ceiling by $480 billion was 50-48. Like it really mattered. The eleven spineless Republicans who vote to forego the filibuster could have gone ahead and voted with the Democrats. We know their names.
Speaking of gloating, Chuck Schumer said the following, according to the New York Times:
“Republicans played a dangerous and risky partisan game, and I am glad that their brinkmanship did not work,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader. “What is needed now is a long-term solution so we don’t go through this risky drama every few months.”
Chuck you, Schumer and let’s go, Brandon.
There are normal Republicans who argue that today’s vote was a good thing. We get to keep the filibuster and the Democrats have to repeat this process in December. Then, the Republicans can say that they gave the Democrats and an extension and they still couldn’t get it done. I say that Mitch McConnell will find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again.
On the other hand, if Republican Glenn Youngkin beats Terry McAuliffe to become Governor of Virginia in November, the Democrats may see the writing on the wall. They may realize that Biden’s agenda has ceased to be. They may be more willing to play reindeer games with the Republicans.
On the other other hand, spineless Republicans will find a way to blow that too.
Featured Image: Damian Gadal/Flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Bucky says: Members of Congress of both wings of the Uniparty gauge their success by how much public money they spend. A debt ceiling would put a damper on their primary metric of success.
Lloyd says: Bucky makes a good point: Our elected politicians are only concerned with spending…never with those of us who must pay for such.
GWB says: “What is needed now is a long-term solution so we don’t go through this risky drama every few months.”
I concur. The long-term solution is that you only pay for things authorized under the Constitution, you only pay for what you can afford, and that you stop buying votes.
An amendment that required a budget not exceed the previous year’s tax income (unless a declaration of war is made, and all moneys above last year’s tax income are used in the war effort) and that all debt incurred should be paid off within 5 years would make a huge dent in our problems.
[…] Joe Manchin had a pithy response to Chuck Schumer.”Civility is gone.” That was after Chuck Schumer gave an ugly victory lap speech after a short-term debt hike deal was reached. Toni wrote about it here. […]
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