A conservative Republican named John Boehner -- the Speaker of the House -- could barely blitz a deal through the tea party blockade and their Republican hostages in the House. What kind of bill from Harry Reid, the mealy swishy "liberal" Democratic senator, could ever be taken up by the House and successfully attain enough votes for passage, given the opposite-day political strategy of the Republicans? I imagine there's 200 "no" votes just because it came from Harry Reid's office, irrespective of content.
Put another way, let's just say Reid has the votes in the Senate and a debt bill is passed through that chamber. The odds are extraordinarily slim that the same bill would make it through the House. Nancy Pelosi would would have to cajole a shitload of House Republicans and some Democrats (Reid's bill is also quite conservative) in order to make it happen.
Yes, I'm pretty hopeless at this point. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
All that's left right now is for the president to be the hero and employ the 14th Amendment justification and raise the goddamn debt ceiling. And it needs to be done before our credit rating is dropped, which could happen even if there is a deal before Tuesday at midnight.
This is the only solution that could avoid economic catastrophe. If they pass a deal and raise the debt limit, there's going to be an economic downturn thanks to the negative impact of austerity. Two things need to happen: the debt ceiling needs to be raised, and spending cuts have to be avoided.
But first the president has to step up and put an end to all of this before it's too late. Harry Reid and John Boehner surely won't.