Okay, GOP: What’s the ‘ask’ on the debt showdown?

by Hugh Hewitt,

A “debt limit crisis” is most definitely not a “crisis” in the sense of a sudden set of extraordinary and dangerous circumstances. It is, rather, a regularly recurring moment of American political Kabuki when Congress and the president must agree to raise the nation’s borrowing limit. The national credit card is almost maxed out, and a new spending limit must be obtained.

When power to raise the debt limit is divided between Democrats and Republicans, getting to an agreement can be tedious. But the arc of the story in recent years has followed a predictable script.

Congressional Republicans will triumph if they can agree on a few reasonable demands; make those demands specific, understandable and public; then repeat the demands again and again on every television set and over every radio show and podcast. This is about messaging. Any set of compelling and well-articulated demands from the GOP will create pressure on the administration to fold.

These showdowns come down to a contest of credibility. Voters punish the party that seems to be playing games, risking America’s credit and the markets that rely on it.

…without a shared set of reasonable demands, Republicans will appear confused and divided, and after weeks of massive media pummeling, the GOP will likely give in. “What’s the ask?” is the key question for Republicans right now.

So what can the GOP ask for, if not a new sequestration? Along with Cotton’s proposal, the party can insist on undoing the authorization and first appropriation for about 87,000 new IRS staff over the next decade. The idea that the economy will grow through better, faster, bigger tax collections is absurd. The GOP could also argue that the debt limit will continue to rise until the flood of migrants into the country ebbs, pointing to the quite obvious costs of uncontrolled migration. Saying that the debt limit won’t go up until the border wall goes up is concise, catchy and compelling, and would focus the country on the border crisis. (A genuine “crisis.”) Defunding NPR and PBS would excite the base — the first cut should be the least necessary thing the federal government pays for. In this age of a thousand media outlets, no one needs a government subsidy.

For the sake of clarity, Republican priorities should be limited to a list of three items or fewer. Lay them on the table for the public to see. Hammer them relentlessly, until every swing voter can recite the list by heart.

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