“The House has been frittering away precious time on ideological games, forcing Congress to miss its Friday deadline for an agreement on raising the debt ceiling,” according to an editorial in the New York Times. “Fortunately, there are signs of adulthood in Washington’s sandbox, and it remains possible that a deal could be reached to prevent the loss of America’s credit standing.
“The Friday target was originally imposed by the White House to allow time to pass a bill before default begins just 11 days later on Aug. 2. With economic calamity clearly in sight, markets beginning to rattle and even cynical economists getting scared, the desperate search for a plan to raise the debt limit is a 24-hour operation at the Capitol. (The right thing for Congress to do, of course, was to pass a clean raise to the limit, but the Republicans would not let that happen.)
“For all its flaws, the Gang of Six plan — unlike the ideas floating in the House — is at least a framework for further discussion. It is much more promising than the ‘Plan B’ being cobbled together by Senate leaders to raise the debt ceiling in three increments while cutting at least $1 trillion in spending with no revenue increases.
“It is hard to see how the extremist Republican caucus in the House could accept the Gang of Six plan. At the moment, at least 80 members have signed a letter objecting even to the ‘Plan B’ proposal. But perhaps the growing prospect of a financial crash will focus a few minds. With a bit of extra time, and a good deal of extra sense, there is still a chance to avert disaster.”
The rest of the article is here.
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