What will it cost Dems to raise the debt ceiling?
KCRW's Left, Right & Center
KCRW
4.2 • 4.8K Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2023
⏱️ 50 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
The Biden administration and House Republicans are already in a potentially months-long standoff over raising the national debt ceiling.
The Treasury Department started to enact “extraordinary measures” this week in order to keep paying the federal government’s bills after hitting the debt ceiling, or the borrowing cap set by law, at $31.4 trillion. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen must now suspend some investments and exchange other types of debt to keep the cash flowing, but she predicts that can only last until June.
Congress must now raise or suspend the debt ceiling so the government can keep the cash flowing. Failing to act could push the country into default could destabilize financial markets and push the world into economic chaos.
Historically, raising the debt ceiling has been an easy vote for legislators. But it’s become a political game of chicken in recent years. Republicans want to slash spending for entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, but the Biden administration has made clear it wants the limit to be raised without conditions.
What’s really behind the hard stances from both parties? And given the clear divisions in the Republican party, are negotiations a good strategy?
Host David Greene discusses with Mo Elleithee, executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service, and Sarah Isgur, senior editor at The Dispatch.
Plus, Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar were once again granted seats on House committees after being kicked off in 2021 by a Democratic-led Congress. They will both join the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and have already announced their intention to investigate President Biden over a number of issues.
What does this tell us about how the GOP plans to use its slim House majority? And what will this mean for Democrats?
And Israel is moving toward a dangerous path away from democracy with Benjamin Netanyahu’s reinstatement as prime minister. While Democratic lawmakers are criticizing Israel, President Biden is now weighing how to respond.
What could the Biden administration do, as it navigates debates in their own party? And is now the time for Biden to take a stance?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Everybody, this is David Green. I'm the co-founder of Fearless Media and I'm your host here on |
| 0:05.6 | Left Right and Center, the show where we take on all the political issues, even those complicated |
| 0:10.6 | ones that might be dividing your own family these days. And we're going to start with one |
| 0:13.8 | that is really complicated. Could sometimes strike people as boring, but we're going to make |
| 0:18.6 | sure it doesn't strike you as that. Today it is super important. So we're going to be |
| 0:23.0 | talking about the debt ceiling already. The Biden administration and House Republicans |
| 0:27.5 | are in this standoff over whether the United States government can keep paying its bills |
| 0:32.3 | and the stability of the global economy could be hanging in the balance. The Treasury |
| 0:36.6 | Department started to enact so-called extraordinary measures this week in order to keep paying |
| 0:41.8 | the federal government's bills as it hit the debt ceiling. This is a borrowing cap set |
| 0:46.2 | by law that we should say this is sort of like whether or not the ball crossed the plane |
| 0:50.1 | of the end zone and football. It's not entirely clear whether we've gone past the debt limit |
| 0:54.9 | yet, but it looks like maybe possibly we have. So the government's debt currently stands |
| 1:01.0 | at a whopping $31.4 trillion. Now Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has to suspend some investments |
| 1:09.2 | and exchange other types of debt to try and keep the cash flowing, but that's going to |
| 1:13.3 | only last for so long. It's now up to Congress to raise or suspend the debt ceiling so that |
| 1:18.6 | the government doesn't run out of cash, which honestly could destabilize financial markets |
| 1:23.7 | and push the whole world into economic chaos and being a little flip, but nothing important |
| 1:27.4 | here. So if we look back at history, raising the debt ceiling has been an easy vote for legislators, |
| 1:33.2 | but it's become a political game of chicken recently. Yellen sent a letter to Congress |
| 1:38.6 | last week urging lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling and saying that she might exhaust |
| 1:43.6 | all of her extraordinary options as soon as June, but negotiations between the White House |
... |
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