MAGA Economic Terrorists posing as House Republicans have shown they will not budge much right now (or maybe ever) on their unreasonable demands to cut domestic spending (but leave defense spending at high or higher levels and the Trump tax cuts for the rich and largest corporations) in their negotiations with the White House on raising the debt ceiling.
No surprise there. For Republicans making life easier for a child who needs a quality Head Start Program or KidsCare or food stamps is sinful while funding unneeded weapons programs and giving tax breaks to churches and fossil fuel industries is the work of God.
President Biden should do what he did before the 2022 midterms when he delivered a prime-time address on the threat to American Democracy at the hand of many of these same MAGA Terrorists that are holding the nation's full faith and credit hostage.
That speech, along with the threats against reproductive freedom and the LGBTQ community, helped frame what was at stake for the electorate. The results across the country contained and repelled the move toward Trump- Putin-Orban-Erdogan styled autocracy, in most cases, in purple and blue states.
Unfortunately, red states like Florida, Nebraska, and Texas are going full steam ahead on adopting Anti-Democratic and Anti-Civil Rights legislation.
The President needs to go before the American People and frame the debate again on the debate ceiling.
To be fair, Mr. Biden has been doing this consistently in response to questions from reporters for the last several weeks including the press conference earlier today in Hiroshima, Japan following the end of the G-7 Summit.
At the beginning of the press conference, the President reminded the journalists that:
"I've done my part. I've put forward a proposal to cut spending by more than a trillion dollars on top of the nearly three trillion dollars in deficit reduction that I previously proposed through the combination of spending cuts and new revenues. Now it is time for the other side to move. They're from their extreme positions because much of what they've already proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable. So, let me be clear. I'm not going to agree to a deal that protects, for example, a 30 billion dollar tax break for the oil industry which made 200 billion last year. They don't need an incentive of another 30 billion dollars while putting the health care of 21 million Americans at risk by going after Medicaid. I'm not going to agree to a deal that protects 200 billion in excess payments for the pharmaceutical industries and refusing to count that while cutting over a hundred thousand school teachers' and assistants' jobs, 30,000 law enforcement officers cut across the entire United States of America. I'm not going to agree to a deal that protects wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders while putting food assistance at risk for nearly one million Americans. It's time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, solely on their partisan terms. They have to move as well. All four Congressional leaders agree with me that default, let me say this again, default is not an option and I expect each of these leaders to live up to that commitment. America has never defaulted. Never defaulted on our debt and it never will..."
Later in response to the Republican focus on domestic spending cuts and their intransigence toward revenue increases, the President said:
"The idea that my Republican colleagues want to continue the two trillion dollar tax cut that had profound negative effects on the economy from the Trump Administration...we need more people who are qualified to be able to look at the tax returns of the thousand billionaires in America...we would save somewhere between 200 billion and 400 billion dollars in tax revenue...they say revenue is off the table. Revenue is not off the table..."
In these comments, the President framed what was at stake for the country very well and rightfully painted the MAGA Republicans (the ones who have not proposed a budget of their own) as the inflexible economic extremists-terrorist-hostage takers.
Now the President should repeat what he did last fall in his address to protect American Democracy and deliver a prime-time address to the American People.
This is also a page out of the Bill Clinton book.
Readers should remember that President Clinton, in dealing with the extremist House Republicans of Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, and Tom DeLay, pulled the budget debate rug out from under them by delivering a prime-time address from the Oval Office, offering a balanced budget proposal on terms that, after two Government shutdowns, were mostly agreed to.
Biden should take the same approach as Clinton, frame the debate before the American People, and push the MAGA terrorists into a corner that their extremist positions can not prevail from.
Stay Tuned.
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