Stories like this really raise the question of whether Ben Carson understands even the basic rudiments of how the budget process works or even what the federal budget is. Carson says that if he’s elected he won’t sign any budget that increases the debt ceiling. Not he won’t sign it unless there are cuts or whatever else, but no increases to the federal debt ceiling at all. That’s ambitious since it means hundreds of millions of dollars in immediate cuts to the federal budget and even then could make it difficult to service the existing national debt.
But there’s a bigger problem – one that goes beyond extremist nonsense to a basic breakdown of logical reasoning.
Carson says: “If I’m elected, in January of 2017, we will begin to address the budget immediately. We’re not going to wait until October or November to do it, when we’re backed against the wall. And I will make it very, very clear that there will not be any budget signed that increases our debt ceiling. It will have to be done.”
So Carson won’t let the issue drag out until the end of the year when there’s a crisis. But is Carson imagining that as the new President in 2017 he’s going to face a budget stand off with President Obama? The Democrats have a shot at taking back the Senate. But I don’t think anyone thinks the Democrats are going to take the House. And if Republicans win the White House, I think that means they had a year that makes a Democratic comeback unlikely.
Debt ceiling crises presuppose some sort of partisan division between the White House and Capitol Hill. The only crisis about the debt ceiling is if there’s a stand off between the President and Congress. But on the long-shot, terror scenario of a Carson presidency, he would quite likely enjoy united Republican control in DC or perhaps Republicans in control everywhere but the Senate. So unless he’s battling resurgent RINO dominance on Capitol Hill, what is Carson talking about?
Lots of nonsense gets said in a presidential race, particularly in GOP primary season. But I genuinely wonder if this guy is all there.
