On Monday Treasury Secretary Geithner sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner suggesting that a cap on the debt limit undermines the rule of law and flirts with a charge of extortion. On Friday, Eric Cantor issued a statement that sounded like the Republicans are ready to pursue a different strategy regarding the debt ceiling. "Post hoc non propter hoc.” Logic doesn’t permit anyone to say that Geithner scared the Republicans into steering towards a straighter, narrower path.
For one thing, “the full faith and credit” of the United States is still being held for ransom. What do Republicans get from extending the deadline for Democrats to deliver what they demand?
Word cloud developed from House debate on the Concurrent Resolution for the Budget for Fiscal Year 2013 in the Congressional Record dated March 28 2012
On Feb 04 2013, “Budget Season” begins in Washington, DC. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 established the protocol whereby the President kicks off
the yearly tradition by submitting his recommendations to Congress on the first Monday of February. The Republicans plan to use the budget process timetable, established under the Act of ’74, to push the same old worn out talking points that didn't work in the 2012 election.
They say that the Democrats haven’t passed a budget in 1360 days. This is classic Republican seize-the-narrative, control-the-conversation, limit-the-discussion with a simple slogan even the dimmest among them can memorize. (Predictably they’ll have trouble with the number.)
The last time Congress passed a traditional budget was on April 29, 2009. The Republicans don’t get to pin the 1360 day interval since then on the Democrats. They don’t get to pin it on the Senate.
The Republicans haven’t passed a budget in 1360 days either and the same goes for the House. The Republicans are going to say that they did too pass a budget, "The Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2013,” aka the 'Paul Ryan Budget,' aka, for those who enjoy irony, 'The Path to Prosperity.' Do Republicans really want to debate the Ryan plan again? Let’s go. That’s a challenge Democrats should accept every day, all the time. First of all, to take the 2013 Concurrent Resolution seriously, as a legitimate budget resolution, requires complete suspension of disbelief when you read it.
For the Republicans to even pass this document with a cover calling it a resolution on the budget is a desecration of their duties as lawmakers and of the US Congress. It makes a mockery of the ideals and principles that the founders sought to institutionalize in the government they left to us.
The Republicans are giving “the full faith and credit” another three months unless the Democrats agree to pass their budget. The budget process timetable sets a deadline of April 15 2013 for Congress to complete action on a budget resolution. As the House and Senate proceed, the debt ceiling and the threat of default will be hanging over their heads with the understanding that the Republicans will bring it all down if they can’t have what they want.