Tim Pawlenty: Leave The Debt Ceiling Alone! (VIDEO)

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One of the most vexing issues facing the Republicans these days is what to do about the federal debt ceiling. Does the GOP-controlled House do what its tea party members want and refuse to increase the amount of money the government can borrow, thereby setting a stage for a redux of the 1995 government shutdowns that cost the last Republican majority so dearly? Or do they do what House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) — and many other Republicans — have suggested and do the “adult” thing and grit their teeth and let the ceiling rise?

It’s a problem, and one that has no solution yet. No one really knows how the debt argument will play out among the GOP, nor how the decision will affect the Republican party in the long run.

At CPAC today, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty made it clear that for him, the argument is over. And he’s on the side of the tea party. Not only does he not want the ceiling raised, he’s actually touting the state government shutdown of which he was part.

Pawlenty is one of a stream of possible presidential candidates to come across the dais at CPAC today and, like most of them, he’s reaching out with both hands for the conservative wing of the party ahead of the primary season. Wrapped up in Pawlenty’s big ol’ tea party bear hug is the debt ceiling. No matter what, he told the crowd today, Congress should not allow the government to borrow more than it does already.

“We should not — we should not — raise the debt ceiling,” he said.

It’s probably a safe line to take for a presidential candidate. If the ceiling gets raised, it’ll punch up his credibility as a pure conservative, unafraid to take positions that oppose his party’s. If the Congress doesn’t raise it, Pawlenty will be part of the revolution overthrowing all that “adult” talk from Boehner.

Watch Pawlenty take a stand against debt:

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