Will the White House lose control of Democrats on the debt ceiling?

It?s not clear whether the White House ever could have persuaded congressional Democrats to demand a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling. Raising the debt ceiling is very, very unpopular. But what?s obvious is that the White House could never have persuaded congressional Democrats to demand a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling once they?d already agreed to negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. Once you say there?s going to be a deal, everyone wants a cut of the action. And sure enough, Democrats are starting to fracture.

What matters now is whether the White House can get Democrats to unite behind policy that isn?t horribly destructive in return for raising the debt ceiling. My understanding is that even Republicans have realized that the balanced budget amendment that Senate Republicans voted for is so badly written that it can?t become the Republican position, so that?s largely off the table. That leaves two contenders:

1) A spending cap along the lines on McCaskill-Corker. This is the GOP?s position, and for good reason: It reframes our deficit problem as a spending problem, and makes spending cuts, as opposed to a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, the only possible solution.

2) A debt cap along the lines of what?s in Obama?s budget, or SaveGo. This would work by specifying a specific target for total debt or total savings and, if we failed to hit it, make automatic cuts to both spending and to tax expenditures (when you cut a tax break, it acts as a tax hike) until Congress got us back on track. This has the advantage of targeting the actual thing we say we?re worried about ? debt ? as opposed to the thing Republicans have an ideological aversion to.

If the White House can get the Democrats to unite behind some sort of debt cap, that?s one thing. Then Joe Manchin and Amy Klobuchar can go to their voters and say they stood firm for deficit reduction in the face of enormous pressure. If they lose control of them, however, and end up with a spending cap, that?d be a disaster. And remember that this is all happening against the backdrop of the debt ceiling, which means that too much disagreement could lead to an absolute catastrophe.

Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=68596737565657524cfdf4adc67fe4eb

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