To the unrestrained amusement of the completely disengaged Democrats in the Senate and White House, the House Republican Leadership spent all day yesterday, indeed all week, beating the heck out of their conservative, Tea Party contingent to vote for an ineffectual debt ceiling plan from Speaker John Boehner.

There aren’t the House votes for it – as demonstrated by last night’s postponements.  There aren’t the Republican votes for it – there aren’t even the five Democrat votes for it that were cast for the far, far better Cut, Cap and Balance (CCB) plan.

Why is the House Republican leadership going to such great lengths to get this far lesser plan passed?  Working far harder for it than they did for CCB?

When the Boehner plan faces the same defeat as CCB in the completely unproductive Senate.  A defeat with less Senate votes than CCB received.

The House has done its work.  Twice – CCB and the Paul Ryan plan.  It should not spend one more second contorting the arms of their own to try to pass a third, tepid alternative to the two fine plans they have already put forward.

In a sane, good world, the House leadership would first thing this morning issue the following statement.  Then adjourn and go home.

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From the Associated Press:

The Senate on Friday blocked a House Republican bill to require Congress to slash spending and pass a balanced-budget amendment before raising the nation’s borrowing powers. The vote left unresolved, with just days to go, the urgent issue of how to lift the debt limit to avoid a U.S. government default.

The 51-46 Senate vote against the tea party-backed measure—which had been expected in the Democratic-run chamber—came shortly after House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters he and President Barack Obama had not reached a separate agreement to resolve the debt crisis.

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As a Member of Congress and the mom of two young children, I take a different perspective on the debt ceiling negotiations than many of my colleagues. I look at it from the perspective of a parent trying to balance their checkbook and preserve the American Dream for their children.

For example, did you know that President Obama’s request to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion through the next election comes to $20,000 per every American family. If we’re going to raise the debt burden of every American family by $20,000, we owe it to them to start cutting spending and tearing up those credit cards.

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Congressmen Bill Cassidy, Steve King and Jeb Hensarling to talk about the House passage of Cut, Cap and Balance, the Gang of Six plan in the Senate and more.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

House Passes Cut, Cap and Balance; Faces Stiff Opposition in Senate
Cut, Cap and Balance will avoid default
The Gang of Six Disaster: The Worst Plan So Far
Americans still think raising debt ceiling a dodgy idea
Paul Ryan Responds To “Gang Of Six” “Bipartisan” “Deficit-Cutting” “Plan”
Congressman Bill Cassidy, M.D.
Congressman Steve King
Congressman Jeb Hensarling

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From The Hill:

President Obama could agree to a short-term hike of the debt ceiling if there are concrete plans in place to move quickly with a grand bargain, the White House said Wednesday.

White House press secretary Jay Carney stressed that Obama is opposed to temporary increases to the U.S. borrowing limit, but he opened the door a crack, saying that Obama could agree to something short-term in order to give lawmakers time to finalize a deficit-reduction plan like the one unveiled by the bipartisan Senate Gang of Six.

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From the Associated Press:

Defying a veto threat, the Republican-controlled House voted Tuesday night to slice federal spending by $6 trillion and require a constitutional balanced budget amendment to be sent to the states in exchange for averting a threatened Aug. 2 government default.

The 234-190 vote marked the power of deeply conservative first-term Republicans, and it stood in contrast to rising support at the White House and in the Senate for a late stab at bipartisanship to solve the nation’s looming debt crisis.

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Here’s a new video from the Cato Institute that looks at the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” proposal, and analyzes that budget reform in the broader context of the debt-limit fight and America’s looming fiscal crisis.

The video features my commentary, along with the sage analysis of my Cato colleague Chris Edwards. We make two simple points. First, fiscal reforms are necessary because America faces a Greek-style fiscal crisis if we leave the federal budget on autopilot.

Actually, America’s collapse will be worse since we won’t get a bailout from the IMF. Yet this doesn’t seem to bother President Obama, who apparently views the debt-limit fight as an opportunity for class-warfare demogaguery and transparent efforts to seduce the GOP into a suicidal tax-hike deal.

Second, the fiscal reforms that are necessary should be very feasible since they actually involve relatively modest spending restraint. Genuine spending cuts would be preferable, of course, but merely slowing the growth of spending can put America on a sustainable path.

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The debt limit increase debate is heating up and conservatives have put together one fascinating proposal as a means to get spending cuts in consideration for a debt limit increase:  The Cut, Cap, and Balance Pledge.  Conservatives seem to be coalescing around this idea, because no other concrete ideas have been put on the table as a precondition for conservatives to allow an increase of the debt limit.  A senior Senate source tells Capitol Confidential that “this is everything.  This is the the big push for conservatives on the debt limit fight.”

The House is controlled by Republicans, yet the Senate is controlled by Democrats.  Divided government makes it hard to pass conservative ideas.  Hard, yet not impossible.

The debate on the Fiscal Year 2011 Continuing Resolution (FY2011 CR) was a case study on how NOT to negotiate with liberals.  The House can pass solid conservative legislation and appropriations bills, yet the Senate can defeat these ideas with inaction.  And they did on the FY2011 CR fight.  Senator Harry Reid (R-Nevada) defeated Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) Continuing Resolution by not scheduling a debate on the measure. The original House passed FY2011 CR contained massive cuts to spending, yet Reid beat it back by not doing anything and awaiting the inevitable panic by House leaders who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  Instead of daring the Senate to just never pass a bill and let the government shut down, the House blinked and sent over short term spending bills, then negotiated a final bill that was bad policy.  The House negotiated against themselves and conservatives ended up with a Continuing Resolution that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, actually increased spending by $3.3 billion.  The leftists over at the Daily Kos made fun of Speaker Boehner for the spending increases in the FY2011 CR.   The resolution of the debate on the continuing resolution for conservatives was an epic failure.

Hopefully conservatives have learned a lesson and will not make the same mistake again.

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