Cutting the deficit hasn’t dominated our politics but historically high levels may force the party to deal with budgetary trade-offs. Obama and Clinton offer lessons.
debt ceiling
Posted inNewsletter
Trump’s Debt Ceiling Demand is a Sign of Weakness
Plus, Biden’s proxy war wins over Russia and Iran, the subtext delivered in this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics, and how the media can stand up to Trump — all in the December 19, 2024 newsletter
Posted inPolitics
The Washington Monthly Newsletter: October 5, 2023
“Trust Fall Fail: The Kevin McCarthy Story” and the latest from the Washington Monthly website.
Posted inPolitics
Dumping Kevin McCarthy Was Easy. Keeping the Government Open Will Be Hard.
Democrats concluded McCarthy wasn’t principled enough to warrant saving, but a more principled speaker will likely be even more trouble.
Posted inPolitics
The Washington Monthly Newsletter: October 3, 2023
“Why Democrats Should Keep McCarthy” and the latest from the Washington Monthly website.
Posted inPolitics
The Debt-Ceiling Deal Shows Joe Biden is a Normal President Just Like He Promised
Skeptics said he couldn’t bring regular order, let alone bipartisanship, to Washington after the Trump years. But that’s precisely what he’s doing.
Posted inPolitics
Biden Should Not Cave to the Republican Hostage-Takers
Asserting the power to nullify the debt limit by using the 14th Amendment power or minting a trillion-dollar coin must be kept on the table.
Posted inPolitics
Biden is Finally Negotiating on the Debt Ceiling and the Budget. Good.
The president is in a much stronger negotiating position than Barack Obama was in 2011 or than many gloomy Democrats believe.
Posted inPolitics
I’ve Argued for Years That the President Must Pay the National Debt Even If Congress Won’t Raise the Debt Ceiling.
A once-theoretical debate among law school professors like me becomes real as Republicans lay siege to the full faith and credit of the United States, and a conservative Supreme Court probably won’t resist joining the fray.
Posted inEconomy
The Debt Ceiling, Austerity, and the Economic Challenges Haunting President Biden’s Reelection Bid
If the GOP forces a historic default or massive budget cuts, all bets are off for a soft landing—or Democrats keeping the White House.
