re: #44 albusteve

why wasn’t a debt ceiling increase part of a package deal when the Bush tax cuts were extended?…why weren’t corporate loopholes and unfair subsidies addressed by the dem house before the last election?…it seems like this whole thing was a gift to the GOP

Because the GOP had already identified what a golden opportunity the debt ceiling would be, and that the leverage they could gain in threatening the country’s welfare (in order to improve their bargaining position) increased the closer they came to the deadline. Even if they’d have willingly given that opportunity up, I’d imagine they’d have sold it far too dearly.

From the 2010 elections:
politico.com

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Sunday that Republicans intend to fight against a vote due next year on raising the limit on government borrowing.

“We are not going to compromise on raising more debt. We are not going to compromise on raising the debt ceiling,” Steele said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

While in the congressional minority, Republicans have made political hay out of periodic votes in Congress to raise the national debt, which are needed whenever the the government runs budget deficits. The dynamic will be different, however, if the GOP controls the House. In that case, it will be votes and bills favored by a Republican majority that get held up by a refusal to endorse a rise in the debt ceiling.

Some tea-party-backed candidates for Congress have made a point of promising to fight an increase in the debt ceiling. For example, Utah Republican Senate nominee Michael Lee has vowed to oppose an increase in the debt ceiling, even if it angers Republican leaders.