VICTORY: President Biden eviscerates House GOP debt standoff

VICTORY: President Biden eviscerates House GOP debt standoff

Democrats once again played the role of the adult, keeping the House GOP from causing a catastrophic economic meltdown with consequences that would extend globally within six months of taking office.

One only hopes that moderate voters appreciate that President Joe Biden and the Democrats saved Republicans from themselves on Wednesday night.

Now, extremists in the House GOP caucus can’t conduct their legislative terrorism anymore for the rest of Biden’s first term of office.

And in the process, the President won the debt ceiling fight by getting nearly 150 House GOP members to do what they swore not to do: raise the federal government’s debt limit.

Also, Democrats got a far better deal this time than when President Obama was in office.

The post-vote fallout and the Democrats’ most significant gain in their victory are best described in The New York Times report:

If passed by the Senate, the bill would suspend the debt limit for two years and effectively freeze federal spending that had been on track to grow. Republicans also extracted a series of policy concessions from the Biden administration, including clawing back some money approved by Congress to bolster the I.R.S. and imposing new work requirements on some recipients of government benefits.

It was only eight days ago that master negotiator Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said that they had this hostage and they wouldn’t let it go without getting their terms.

They did.

Instead, the bill mainly impacts budgets in future years of a 10-year budget window. Most of its savings are just a meaningless promise not to raise spending with the cost of inflation one day. When Obama signed the “sequestration” law it imposed draconian cuts that past House GOP caucuses dismantled one budget at a time

McCarthy was all smiles last night as if he victoriously led the House through a dangerous swamp which is odd because he lost.

The final score: 165 No votes for Democrats versus 149 yes for Republicans.

Perhaps McCarthy did win. He bamboozled many Matt Gaetz-types on his way to victory even though the Freedom Caucus unanimously voted “No.”

During negotiations, the GOP talked about extending the debt ceiling for six months, or a year maximum, putting President Joe Biden and the Democrats through the same process, cutting more along the way. But the final deal is for two years.

Biden and the Democrats will not be held “hostage” again through Biden’s term.

Far-right Republicans were not the only ones unhappy about the deal. The progressive caucus in the Democratic party voted no against the deal, too.

Weird as it may seem, despite the losses the Democrats suffered, the risks were too high to hold out for more, and Congress actually functioned as it should.

The Democrats knew they had to be the adults and join with just enough Republicans to ensure the country and world avoided the chaos that would have ensued had the Republicans continued to hold the country hostage.

The Democrats were responsible and thus rewarded. Perhaps that is why the nation will not face a similar crisis again for two years… Maybe moderate Republicans knew they were their own worst enemies and couldn’t put themselves through this process – and the press another time.

According to MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Democrats avoided almost all work requirements under SNAP, a serious point of contention.

The one exception applies to non-veterans aged 51-54 without kids. (Don’t ask how that came to be the line.

Add this Democratic victory to Kevin McCarthy’s disastrous statements last night, bragging that this would be “just the start,” that he would form a new bipartisan commission that would look at reforming the “entire budget,” and it’s a Democratic sweep. Our Executive Editor quipped on Twitter that it was the GOP’s new committee to re-elect Biden in a post that went viral.

If he gets his commission formed, he will be grilled on a spit by Republicans, which will be the least of his worries when the American people get to him for proposing lowering Social Security and Medicare coverage.

It is not out of the question that McCarthy could lose his own district.

Regardless, in the darkness of Wednesday night, the Democrats did the responsible thing, and the electorate will surely notice.

Democrats got a win.

Joe Biden got a win.

The win isn’t just for the country. It’s a win for the global economy, something that Republicans willingly held hostage.

Can’t have that. Not with adults in the room, making sure that the kids don’t get hurt playing with dangerous toys.

I can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com, and @JasonMiciak

Editor’s note: This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author.

Jason Miciak

Jason Miciak is an associate editor and opinion writer for Occupy Democrats. He's a Canadian-American who grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He is a trained attorney, but for the last five years, he's devoted his time to writing political news and analysis. He enjoys life on the Gulf Coast as a single dad to a 15-year-old daughter. Hobbies include flower pots, cooking, and doing what his daughter tells him they're doing. Sign up to get all of my posts by email right here: