Republicans are playing games with the debt ceiling, and that’s totally cool with Stephen Colbert.
On Thursday night, Colbert broke down Republicans’ political theater over the debt ceiling, noting how they brought a bill to the House floor that would have raised the debt ceiling with no strings attached, solely with the intent of voting that bill down.
Republicans have been in a bind between competing demands within their party’s base. On one side, Tea Partiers want deep budget cuts in exchange for an increase to the debt ceiling — terms that Democrats won’t accept. On the other hand, businesses would rather see a compromise to avoid the disastrous fallout that could occur if Congress deadlocks over the debt ceiling.
As Colbert explained, that vote lets Republicans play both sides, saying they’re serious about making big cuts, while knowing that they’ll ultimate settle and raise the debt ceiling.
“Now Republicans can say one thing to Wall Street and the complete opposite to the Tea Party at the exact same time,” Colbert said. “Because to one of those groups, they are talking out their ass.”
Watch the video:
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Dancing on the Ceiling | ||||
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