Debt Limit Battles Past and Present: McCarthy Triples Down on ‘Boehner Rule’

The debt-limit fight now heating up—House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in one corner and the Obiden Regime in the opposing corner—is reminiscent of battles fought 10 and 12 years ago except McCarthy MUST perform to MAGA expectations.

This from msn.com.

Back in 2011, when a Leftist president and congressional Republicans were embroiled in a showdown over raising the debt ceiling, House Speaker John Boehner set a requirement that any increase in the government’s borrowing limit should be matched or exceeded by the amount of spending cuts.

That dollar-for-dollar standard became known as the “Boehner Rule.”

But Republicans shifted away from the rule during another debt-limit fight in 2013. Boehner early on told reporters that “dollar for dollar is the plan,” but Republicans later dropped the idea, shifting their emphasis from discretionary spending cuts to the mandatory side of the budget.

Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) said at the time:

Dollar for dollar is difficult. The discretionary spending itself is $1 trillion a year, and if you’re running a $1 trillion deficit annually, it’s tough to find the savings solely in discretionary spending to match the increase in debt-limit.

As ABC News said at the time:

The ‘Boehner Rule’ died today.

 And Politico explained:

The sharp shift in tactics within the House and Senate GOP caucuses reflects a hardening realization after three years of partisan brinkmanship over the budget: Fighting over the debt in a crisis-like atmosphere is a political loser.

Boehner was not the right Speaker for the job that was needed to be done. He consistently struggled with conservative members of the Republican conference, who pressured him to push for deeper spending cuts and more aggressive negotiating stances in taking on a liberal president.

Boehner resigned in October 2015 under pressure from Conservatism.

Now McCarthy is faced with similar pressures to perform. But where the Boehner Rule called for dollar-for-dollar parity in debt increases and spending cuts, McCarthy has heeded the demands of Conservative members who hold leverage over the current, narrow House GOP majority.

The plan McCarthy released this week calls for approximately $4.5 trillion in spending cuts in exchange for about $1.5 trillion in borrowing authority, or enough to get the government through March 2024, whichever comes first. That’s a 3-to-1 ratio—in line with some conservative demands dating back a decade or more.

Still, some conservatives insist the plan does not go far enough and, for example, are reportedly pushing for stricter work requirements for food stamps. And some of McCarthy’s conservative members insist this plan is not just an opening offer in talks with The Regime—it is their only offer.

But even if McCarthy can get 218 votes for the plan in the House, his support among conservatives may crack after the RINO Senate and White House—now commonly referred to as the uniparty—wind up engaged in dealmaking.

Or if communists/globalists hold fast to their liberal tax and spend mantra and thus refuse to negotiate, we may witness partisan brinkmanship costing a lot more jobs than just the Speaker’s.