Daily Kos: House Republicans Unveil Their Debt Limit Ransom Note
So House Republicans have unveiled their debt limit offer, and despite earlier reports that they were serious about avoiding default, their proposal suggests the exact opposite.
At a press conference following a meeting of all House Republicans, the House GOP leadership team proposed raising the debt limit for six weeks in exchange for President Obama negotiating with them over their list of demands for ending the government shutdown.
If Boehner wants to avoid default, there’s an easy way to do it: Raise the debt limit. But as long as he continues to demand a ransom, he’s not trying to avoid default: He’s threatening it.
9:19 AM PT: This really is important:
IMPT: the GOP plan also forbids extraordinary measures on the debt ceiling.
— @JakeSherman
Remember the last time around, GOP suspended debt limit until mid-May, but extraordinary measures allowed us to avoid default for about 5 months. By legally baring Treasury from avoiding default, GOP is actually proposing to weaponize the debt limit such that it is even more dangerous than it is now. It’s reckless and would make things worse than they are now. Even without any other strings attached, accepting a debt limit increase that bars extraordinary measures should be a nonstarter.
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