September 28, 2021

As I warned last week, Senate Republicans yesterday blocked a bill that would fund the government, provide billions of dollars in hurricane relief and stave off a default in U.S. debts -- because they're more interested in undermining the Biden administration. Via the Washington Post:

The GOP’s opposition dealt a death blow to the measure, which had passed the House last week, and now adds to the pressure on Democrats to devise their own path forward ahead of urgent fiscal deadlines. A failure to address the issues could cause severe financial calamity, the White House has warned, potentially plunging the United States into another recession.

The most urgent deadline is midnight Thursday, at which point Congress must adopt a measure to fund the government or some federal agencies and operations will shutter starting Friday morning. And lawmakers also must act before mid-October to raise the debt ceiling, or they could risk a first-ever default, potentially destabilizing global markets.

In the hours before the Monday evening vote, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) staked his party’s position — that Republicans are not willing to vote for any measure that raises or suspends the debt ceiling, even if they have no intentions of shutting down the government in the process. GOP lawmakers say raising the borrowing limit, which allows the country to pay its bills, would enable Biden and his Democratic allies to pursue trillions in additional spending and other policy changes they do not support.

Notice how the press accepts McConnell's rationale for this bomb-throwing strategy, or that of other GOP lawmakers. They don't give a crap about spending -- as long as the money's going to their donors. The media that continues to normalize these tactics is in no small part responsible for the constitutional crisis we're in.

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