One of the bigger obstacles to getting a deal on the debt ceiling is that the new Republicans in the House don’t care is the economy tanks and voters punish them for it. All they want is to starve the beast (meaning, um, our public government.) From the New York Times:
“Re-election is the farthest thing from my mind,” said Representative Tom Reed, a freshman Republican from upstate New York. “Like many of my colleagues in the freshman class, I came down here to get our fiscal house in order and take care of the threat to national security that we see in the federal debt. We came here not to have long careers. We came here to do something. We don’t care about re-election.”
They may get their wish. Steve Benen puts a new CBS poll into handy chart form, and while no one looks great, congressional Republicans looks worst of all. Of course, the ungovernability of the caucus is also a strong suit for Republican leaders, who are on the verge of getting much of what they want and the prospect of more to come.
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