Dems ignore real deadlines on debt

Politically, Democrats wants to have it both ways regarding their control of Congress.

With respect to President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better spending blowout, their position is that they are the majority and thus have the right, indeed a mandate, to run roughshod over Republican opposition. That despite barely having a House majority and requiring Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote in the Senate to prevail.

With respect to avoiding a government shutdown or defaulting on the federal government’s obligations, however, they sing an entirely different tune. In that case, even though Democrats are in control of both chambers, they claim to need Republican cooperation. And if disaster occurs, they say Republicans are to blame for failing to provide that cooperation.

If disaster does occur, I doubt that this political blame-shifting will work. Democrats are in control. If Congress cannot avoid disaster – or runs way too close to disaster, which has its own consequences – the party in charge won’t be able to escape responsibility.

And in fact, the agenda setting by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been startlingly irresponsible.

That the debt limit suspension expired on Aug. 1 of this year was known from when it was enacted two years previously. Congressional Democrats had seven full months of being in control to do something to raise it. They didn’t even make an attempt.

Instead, they waited until the financial maneuvering Treasury engages in to avoid bouncing checks, some of which would be illegal if done by a private business, was reaching the end of its tether.

The federal government’s fiscal year ends on the same day every year, Sept. 30. Democrats in Congress had nine months to pass a budget for the fiscal year in which we are now in, which began Oct. 1. Again, they didn’t even make an attempt.

And now a new deadline looms for both avoiding defaults and keeping the lights on in the federal government. A short-term increase in the debt limit was approved which is expected to cover the period until at least Dec. 3. A continuing resolution was passed to authorize status quo spending through the same period.

Senate Republicans provided the votes to overcome a filibuster of this short-term increase in the debt limit. Schumer lambasted Republicans in a floor speech anyway, ensuring that Republicans won’t give Democrats another reprieve on the issue.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has for months laid out the path for Democrats to raise the debt limit however much they want for however long they want. Make it part of the budget reconciliation process, which isn’t subject to a filibuster.

Schumer can fulminate all he wants about what he thinks Republicans should be willing to do about the debt limit. But Democrats are in charge. It’s ultimately their responsibility to govern. And after Schumer lambasted Republicans at the very moment they were providing the votes for a short-term debt limit fix, McConnell couldn’t produce the votes again to overcome a filibuster even if he wanted to.

Raising the debt limit through reconciliation is a time-consuming process, involving more than one vote and lots of debate.

The clock is ticking. So, what is Congress working on? Everything except raising the debt limit.

The Senate had a show vote on federal voting standards. Everyone knew that the measure couldn’t overcome a filibuster. It was an act of political theater, not a serious effort at legislating.

There are frenzied negotiations taking place among Democrats regarding the Build Back Better spending blowout. If an agreement could be reached and enacted before the expiration of the continuing resolution on Dec. 3, a government shutdown would be avoided.

But that could be another march toward midnight. And an unnecessary one.

A status quo budget could be adopted for the remainder of the fiscal year. Some Republicans might even support it. And it can always be supplemented with additional spending if Democrats reach agreement on Build Back Better and the true infrastructure bill progressives are holding hostage to it.

The Democratic leadership is creating phony deadlines for things like Build Back Better, while ignoring real deadlines for dealing with the debt limit and avoiding a government shutdown.

Now, Republicans didn’t do markedly better dealing with these issues in a timely fashion when they were in charge.

It shouldn’t be too much to ask that our national politicians adopt a budget and manage the debt limit without creating chaos and economic uncertainty. But apparently it is.