'They were willing to take the government down': Democrat doubts GOP cares about the debt ceiling
Republicans in the House are still threatening not to pay America's bills if President Joe Biden doesn't agree to their demands. It prompted CNN's Jim Acosta to wonder if it was too naive to hope that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) would bring moderate Republicans together with Democrats to agree to pay the bills. A Democratic member explained that there really is no hope.
"That is not realistic with this speaker or with this House of Representatives," explained Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN). "If that would happen, they would certainly recall him and they'd elect a new speaker, and McCarthy does not want to be the shortest-serving speaker in history."
Acosta cited Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen commenting on the 14th Amendment option by saying it's Congress' job to raise the debt ceiling.
Cohen cited Harvard Constitutional Law Professor Laurence Tribe, who said that he thinks it might be a possibility. It will likely be challenged by the Supreme Court, but the Court notoriously doesn't like to weigh in on issues like that, Cohen said. Biden has "signaled" he doesn't intend to go that route, but it might be the only alternative.
"I think if the Republicans don't come to the table with a reasonable proposal, President Biden will have to," Cohen said about invoking the 14th. "And I don't think McCarthy will get to that. I mean, the permitting is something they could work on and the COVID money is certainly something they could work on. I doubt he's going to have any taxes. The Republican mantra is no taxes and no fewer guns in America. So, he's not going to come up with any more taxes and revenue, and that is a shame. ... But President Biden is going to have to be satisfied, and he'll have to get together the votes to make it pass, and it is going to be difficult, I don't think McCarthy has the votes either."
Cohen went on to say that it isn't a couple of Republicans who "are not tethered to reality" in Congress. At this point, it's as many as 60 or 70 who voted not to approve the 2020 election for Pennsylvania and Arizona. That's his way of measuring the fringe in the House GOP, he explained. Those were the members willing to override the Constitution, he said.
"Sometimes when I'm in the House, I think of the fact that I'm in a crime scene. And that some of the people I serve with were insurrectionists, and they were willing to take the government down, trying to keep Trump in office," Cohen confessed. Donald "Trump said default because it will hurt Biden. That is what Trump is thinking. He didn't default, the Republicans didn't default when he was president, and now they want to do it to the president. This is all about politics, and they don't care about our fiscal future and condition."
Cohen said that if the 14th Amendment is in play then the debts will be paid and there isn't a problem. If Biden goes for the 14th, even if the Supreme Court stops it, the move would buy time. If the Supreme Court joins with the GOP-led Congress to block the debt ceiling, it will put the fault squarely on them.
Most of the far-right members of the GOP weren't in office during the last two government shutdowns, so they haven't fully experienced what it's like and how Americans respond to it.
See the full conversation with Rep. Cohen in the video below or at the link here.
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