A Republicans actually willing to push the nation into a default?
Evidently not.
News broke last night that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to pass a short term extension of the national debt ceiling following several filibusters of every Democratic attempt to do so.
The plan reached between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and GOP counterpart Mitch McConnell would raise the statutory debt ceiling by $480 billion, according to a Senate aide. The amount would allow the Treasury to meet obligations through Dec. 3, the same day that the current short term government spending bill runs out.
“We’ve reached agreement to extend the debt ceiling through early December,” Schumer announced on the Senate floor Thursday morning.
Extending the debt ceiling until the beginning of December means we get to do this all over again next month, but if the GOP isn't willing to push the big red button right now, there's no reason to think they will in December just before Christmas.
For as long as I can remember at this point, Republicans have played a dangerous game of chicken with the debt ceiling, but they always blink.
Just because they've always blinked doesn't mean they always will, but this is why I don't necessarily spend a lot of time worrying that we'll actually default. A default would very bad for the GOP's primary constituency of wealthy shareholders and investors with government bonds and they know this.