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House GOP Going Wobbly?

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 14: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) talks to reporters following his election to House minority leader for the next Congress with Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) (L) and House Majority W... WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 14: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) talks to reporters following his election to House minority leader for the next Congress with Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) (L) and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill November 14, 2018 in Washington, DC. In the wake of losing more than House 33 seats to Democrats in last week's midterm elections, Republicans elected McCarthy minority leader and Scalise as minority whip for the 116th Congress. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) MORE LESS

By Josh Marshall

January 25, 2023 8:33 p.m.

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Are House Republicans going wobbly on debt-ceiling hostage taking?

Roll Call reports that House Republicans are now considering passing a series of short-term “clean” debt-limit suspensions in order to create more time for negotiations with the White House over the debt limit and all the spending cuts House Republicans are demanding.

There’s a lot of jargon here. So let me explain what this means.

The House would pass a series of short term laws “suspending” the debt limit. It wouldn’t create a higher debt ceiling but empower the Treasury to simply ignore the debt limit for a period of time. The point is that the crisis seems to be coming sooner than House Republicans want. Generally, the side that wants to free up more time for “negotiations” isn’t on the winning side of the engagement.

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