A June Default Looms Over DC.
“Treasury announced Monday that the government will exhaust the ability to pay all of its obligations “as early as June 1” — even sooner than many lawmakers and economists expected — lending a heightened sense of urgency for both parties to set aside their differences.
For House Republicans, the passage of their debt ceiling package was the opening bid in that effort, and it marked a hard-fought victory for McCarthy and his leadership team, who spent the better part of a week scrambling to convince GOP holdouts to back the bill. It moved through the House on Wednesday by a marginal vote of 217-215, with four Republican defections — the most they could spare.”
The nation’s debt is taking center stage as DC grapples with a June deadline that is fast approaching with no deal on the horizon to fend off a default. The GOP controlled House has new leverage to force a spending reduction that will allow them to save face and make good on a campaign promises to lower the nation’s expenditures. Shutting the government down is not what most member of Congress (not all) or the White House want to do because neither can predict who the public will blame for the catastrophe. Avoiding the public blame game is the ultimate power play in DC and it may just come down to that.
