Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) is one of several Republicans speaking out against his party's debt ceiling strategy. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that House Republicans are "still unsure whether they should use a debt-ceiling deadline to force a decisive showdown" with President Obama over cutting government spending.
Party leaders apparently didn't coalesce around a strategy to present to the rank-and-file at a GOP retreat that begins today in Williamsburg, Va.
But GOP backbenchers are already coming out against the debt ceiling as "hostage strategy." As Steve Benen notes, that "wasn't the case in 2011, when literally zero GOP lawmakers publicly denounced their party's hostage strategy, but it's certainly true now."
Some examples:
* Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) told C-SPAN that the GOP’s debt ceiling strategy is "not a good scenario" and that raising it is "a mathematical imperative."
* Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) told The Wall Street Journal that the GOP shouldn’t use the debt ceiling as leverage but should instead threaten to shut down the government.
* Meanwhile in the Senate, Greg Sargent reports that both Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) acknowledged that the debt ceiling must be raised because the United States cannot default on obligations to pay for spending that Congress has already approved.
If Republicans think they can win spending and entitlement concessions from President Obama and Democrats by threatening not to raise the debt ceiling, their only hope is to stay absolutely united.
That plan already appears to be unraveling.
Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political websites. He also runs Wonk Wire and the Political Dictionary. Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and COO of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. senator and governor. Goddard is also co-author of You Won — Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including The Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor. Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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