"There are two ways to de-risk the [debt ceiling] situation in the lame-duck session of Congress. One is regular order, which would require the cooperation of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and a number of sitting Republican senators wise enough to join Democrats to address the issue now. But this may well not happen.
"The
other option involves a new budget resolution, which would facilitate
using the reconciliation process to raise the debt limit, as was done
in 1990, 1993 and 1997. This approach would require two votes — the
first on the budget resolution and the second on reconciliation. It
would take up about two weeks of Senate floor time, but it could be
accomplished with only 50 votes.
"Any Democrats averse to taking such a painful vote now should consider how much leverage their party will lose once Republicans control the House — and how much higher the risk of default will be then. It’s generally not a good idea to enter a negotiation with a ticking time bomb and a counterparty willing to let it go off.
"The next two years will be turbulent in any case. The president and Congress can make them less risky by addressing the debt limit in December." -- Peter R. Orszag, former director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office, concluding a WaPo op/ ed urging that the debt limit be taken off the table from the bomb- throwing, Christofascist Republicans about to take control of the House. There have been disturbing, to say the least, signals from certain Democrats that they've "given up hope" of dealing with raising the debt limit in the lame duck session. We earnestly hope that this is some sort of head fake, and that the Administration is working with Congressional Democrats to avert giving Qevin McCarthy and his coup caucus a powerful weapon to use against it and the American economy at a critical time. It's time to show some steel in the face of Republican nihilists.
It's also another reason to give Democrats perhaps a decisive cushion in the Senate by re- electing Georgia Sen. Warnock next month.
