Washington Works in Mysterious Ways

I freely admit my bias against having more Federal spending increases and changes to the tax code:

Full disclosure: the SALT limitation costs your humble blogger thousands of dollars in additional Federal taxes per year, yet I wish all of the politicians would go home for the rest of 2021 and not try to "help" us by spending any more money or tinkering with four-year-old tax changes that we haven't even figured out yet.

However, these preferences are nothing compared to the importance of not defaulting on national debt payments.

(From Peter G Peterson Fdn)

If Republican votes are necessary to raise the debt ceiling, they should vote to do it, then get on with the usual politics over taxes and spending.

But Republican votes are unnecessary: according to a procedure known as budget reconciliation, the Democrats by themselves can authorize an increase to the national debt.

[Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.)] emphasized that Democrats could raise the debt ceiling on their own by reopening the reconciliation process, which would allow them to move a bill through the 50-50 Senate with just a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes required of most legislation. “This is the path they will need to take,” Mr. McConnell said.

Mr. Biden, in remarks at the White House, said the U.S. “is a nation that pays its bills and always has.” He called on Republicans to “get out of the way” and let Democrats quickly raise the debt limit. Asked whether he could guarantee that the U.S. would be able to raise the debt ceiling before the deadline, he put the onus on Republicans: “No, I can’t. That’s up to Mitch McConnell.”

Democratic leaders have said trying to address the debt limit through a process tied to the budget known as reconciliation would be risky and time-consuming.

This is why politics is so mystifying to us plebeians. The House webpage states that reconciliation is "a fast-track process" that requires a simple majority in the Senate and does not allow Senators to filibuster. That sounds much less risky and time-consuming.

It's also hard to see why the President called on Republicans to "get out of the way" when Democrats can push them aside with impunity in budget reconciliation.

Raising the debt ceiling is the right thing to do, the vast majority of Americans including most Republicans, would agree. Just do it, Democrats, quit wasting time over a non-issue. Your supporters in the media will see that you get the credit, and the public will follow along.