A Debt Fight the GOP Can't Win

Congress’ rejection of a “clean” debt ceiling increase isn’t surprising and probably won’t have many short-term consequences. Largely because most people don’t really understand what the debt ceiling is or the consequences of default, voting against raising it is and will probably remain popular.  On the other hand, the calamitous consequences of default combined with Democratic control of the White House and Senate means that Republicans cannot score a “clean” victory and use the debt ceiling alone to achieve a laundry list of conservative priorities. There’s a real possibility that asking for too much may result in total defeat: a deal that gives Republicans nothing to speak of and opens the door to huge tax increases in the near future.

If Republicans want to avoid this and get a real victory for spending restraint, they should follow the path that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has laid out and call for immediate cuts in Medicare spending coupled, perhaps, with cuts in Social Security benefits for wealthy near-future beneficiaries. None of this would be popular, of course, and it might well cost a fair number of members their seats. But going for near future cuts in big entitlement programs (and being willing to take the political heat for it) would make a big difference for the country. Such cuts, focused on Medicare, were key to the budget deals that gave the United States a run of budget surpluses in the 1990s. It’s worth trying the same thing again.

The entire debate over the debt ceiling is, and will remain, a bad idea. But if Republicans want to eek out a victory for the country and good public policy, they should focus on near future cuts to entitlement programs.

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