Debt Ceiling Lessons Learned
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 2nd, 2011 4:38 am by HL
Debt Ceiling Lessons Learned
With the debt ceiling deal through the House and likely to pass quickly in the Senate today, Chris Cillizza notes some lessons learned from the negotiations over the past few months.
Most surprising: “Nancy Pelosi=relevant: Talk that Pelosi was largely irrelevant in the debt ceiling fight misses the mark in one significant way. She was able to keep her Democratic caucus entirely unified against House SpeakerJohn Boehner’s compromise bill on the debt ceiling, forcing him to first postpone a vote and then cobble together a majority by adding conservative candy that made the bill even less palatable as a middle ground. Then Pelosi made another power play, this one with the White House as she refused to say on Sunday whether or not she could deliver the necessary Democratic votes for the compromise. Message(s) sent.”
Most worrisome: “This is the beginning, not the end: What the debt ceiling fight amounted to was the first major skirmish of the 2012 election. It’s now obvious just how differently the two parties see the way forward when it comes to healing the economy. That’s a good thing for voters since the choice in 2012 will be crystal clear.”
Gabrielle Giffords Returns to Capitol Hill
C-SPAN has the video of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) returning to the House of Representatives yesterday to a standing ovation from her colleagues.
