Voters Don’t Really Care About Debt Ceiling Votes

Paul Kane: “Someone needs to tell members of Congress: The debt ceiling boogeyman doesn’t really exist.”

“It might help them honestly confront the issues of how to handle the rapidly rising $31 trillion debt, without the over-the-top stakes of one side holding the other politically hostage. In reality, it’s an almost perfunctory vote every 18 months or so that carries very little political risk but could also lead to incredibly horrible consequences if Congress lets the nation default on its debt.”

“In recent years, Republicans have craved the role of hostage taker, believing they can extort a Democratic president into giving into their demands to rein in spending and address the long-term issue of debt. And Democrats have inexplicably cowered at the social-media-cable-news-driven fear that the public cares about the debt ceiling vote.”

“Yet despite repeated examples that neither of those outcomes ever happens — it’s almost impossible to find a congressional career that ended over the debt limit, and these negotiations rarely reduce spending — Congress keeps wrapping itself in knots.”