Late Friday it looked like the surrender of the establishment GOP was almost complete as they announced their latest plan to end the federal government “slimdown” and avoid the prospect of allowing President Obama to claim that the Republicans had forced the government into default when it hits the debt ceiling sometime this week.
The plan floated by Senator Susan Collins of Maine reflected the demands Obama made in a meeting with House GOP Leaders on Thursday, and included:
· The medical device tax that helps finance Obamacare, and has cost thousands of jobs, would be repealed;
· Individuals eligible for subsidies to purchase Obamacare insurance would be subject to stronger income verification;
· Some of the across-the-board "sequester" cuts would be reversed;
· Other budget and spending issuer would be addressed in negotiations led by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to take place only after the government is reopened and the threat of default eliminated.
· Individuals eligible for subsidies to purchase Obamacare insurance would be subject to stronger income verification;
· Some of the across-the-board "sequester" cuts would be reversed;
· Other budget and spending issuer would be addressed in negotiations led by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to take place only after the government is reopened and the threat of default eliminated.
The proposed deal, which came at a time that it looked like Obama was wobbling on some of his demands, and had to be bucked-up by Democratic Senate Majority Lear Harry Reid’s glowering presence, reflected, as our friend Mike Flynn over at Breitbart put it, “the unwillingness of the DC GOP to face a fiscal showdown with Democrats.”
Fortunately for Republicans, Obama said “NO” to the Collins proposal.
Republican nervousness over their poll numbers on the federal government “slimdown” is ridiculous – as Rush Limbaugh pointed out – Obama’s approval is at 37 percent and they think they are losing?
And Rush’s comments came before the release of a Fox News national poll that asked voters to imagine being a lawmaker and having to cast an up-or-down vote on raising the debt ceiling.
That poll showed that 58 percent would vote against raising the debt ceiling, while only 37 percent would vote in favor of it.
More importantly for the House GOP, most Republicans polled (78 percent) and a majority of independents (57 percent) would vote against raising the debt limit. So would almost all Tea Partiers (88 percent).
You can see the details of the Fox News poll through this link.
Fox reported that even Democrats, by a 48-42 percent margin, are more likely to say spending cuts must accompany an increase in the debt limit.
By wide margins Republicans (77 to 11 percent) and independents (65 to 26 percent) would require cuts in government spending before agreeing to raise the debt ceiling.
Even with these, and other polls showing substantial public support for reducing spending and getting the federal government’s fiscal house in order, it seems that the Capitol Hill establishment Republicans who are (until the next election) in charge of the Republican negotiations just can’t seem to accept that We the People actually want them to hang tough on spending, the debt and defunding Obamacare.
Every time a debt ceiling or other deadline nears, which is the point when the Constitution contemplates legislators will act to rein-in spending by an overambitious Executive branch, the Republican establishment blinks and promises to hang tough the next time.
Obama and Harry Reid saved establishment Republicans from themselves by rejecting the Collins proposal.
Obama and Reid have now made the debt ceiling an all or nothing fight and even Speaker Boehner and Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell must recognize that if they cave-in completely and give Obama everything he wants then that’s the end of their leadership, and perhaps the end of the Republican Party as well.
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