A new Congressional Budget Office report has given even more urgency to the battle over the debt limit. 

Wednesday, February 15, 2023
BY JULIA CLAIRE & CROOKED MEDIA
- A ([link removed]) Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) headline ([link removed]) advocating for individual food deprivation rather than any systemic solutions. Very “let them eat cake…actually on second thought let them starve!!”

The news cycle may be trying to dazzle us with sexy surveillance balloons, but we can’t take our eye off the ball when the countdown to Republicans forcing the country into default on the national debt keeps ticking.

* The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has released a new report forecasting that the United States risks defaulting on its debts (which would cause an international financial crisis, nbd) between July and September if the national debt limit is not raised ([link removed]) . It’s a pretty bleak assessment about the country’s political health and, if I may, a glaring condemnation of how easy it is for one party to hijack the national agenda and even hurt the country when they think the government is giving “too much” (any) social support to Americans who need it.

* What does the CBO report change? Republicans want the debt-limit fight to line up closely with the appropriations deadline in late September, for maximum extortion potential. This CBO analysis suggests that such a timeline is possible, but it’s also consistent with what Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said—that the government will stop being able to service its debt quite a bit earlier than September. Democrats, meanwhile, are doing a good job portraying Republicans as craven misers who want to throw cute old Social Security beneficiaries out on the street, but not as good of a job making it clear that the House GOP is still threatening legislative terrorism.

* President Biden has assembled a new team of economic advisers to help him through the ongoing fight with Republicans over the debt limit. Despite unemployment resting at a 53-year low, and a number of not-insignificant policy accomplishments under his belt after just two years in office, the president has struggled to inflate his approval ratings. Armed with his new team, he’s hoping to turn things around politically by pointing the finger at the Republican agenda ([link removed]) , which he says will amount to “a massive giveaway to the super-rich, big corporations, and Big Pharma.” Yep, that’s them.

The Biden administration has a tough couple of months ahead of them, and hopes that their own budget proposal, which will be released in early March, will further underscore the horrors of GOP fiscal policy.

* That part should be easy! The House GOP is, in fact, trying to extort major spending cuts to essential social programs while also slashing taxes for the rich and their corporate cronies, that’s kind of *their whole thing*. In a Wednesday speech at a local Maryland union hall, Biden further detailed that the Republican plan would add $3 trillion to federal deficits in the next decade, while his administration’s plan will cut them by $2 trillion on top of $1.7 trillion in reductions already made. Another piece of good news for Dems is that the CBO analysis concludes that the Inflation Reduction Act—a bill Republicans want to repeal—would reduce deficits over the next decade.

* The cold, hard numbers speak to a broader communications challenge Democrats face: the difficulty of breaking through unrelenting conservative noise, even when the facts are on their side. There’s also widespread aversion among elected Democrats to playing rhetorical hardball, which has never furthered their policy goals, nor inspired Republicans to play nice. For instance, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) have published an op-ed in the Washington Post ([link removed]) advocating for a plan originally proposed by Mitch McConnell over a decade ago that would effectively allow presidents to raise the debt limit unilaterally, prohibited only in the case of a two-thirds Congressional vote. The idea is to make Republicans look hypocritical by rejecting something called “the McConnell plan.” But the op-ed doesn’t clearly state what’s actually happening—Republicans, and only Republicans, are again threatening
to harm the country out of spite and greed. And as we know all too well from years of this exact bullshit, Republicans could not care less about looking hypocritical as long as they get what they want.

The president’s instincts of “I won’t negotiate with fiscal terrorists” are good ones, and Biden should continue to hold that line, especially given if the legislative timeline works in his favor. In the meantime, he and the rest of the party should spread both the Good News of government spending and taxing the rich for the betterment of the nation, and the Bad News that Republicans want to undo it all at gunpoint.

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On Tuesday, the State Department withdrew a nominee for a seat on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ([link removed]) , seemingly stemming from his criticism of Israel’s human rights abuses. James Cavallaro is the co-founder and executive director of the University Network for Human Rights, and has taught human-rights law at some of the nation’s leading universities including Harvard Law School and Stanford Law School. Cavallaro had previously accused now-House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of being “Bought. Purchased. Controlled” by pro-Israel lobbying groups like AIPAC. The invocation of moneyed influence led several right-wing media outlets (who love them some real antisemites) to characterize Cavallaro’s remarks as antisemitic, much like they did to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in 2019. According to publicly available campaign-finance information, Jeffries’ top
campaign contributor is the Pro-Israel America PAC ([link removed]) , with AIPAC not far behind. Jeffries has been unequivocal in his support for Israel throughout his career and is unwilling to even acknowledge basic “abuses on both sides”-style accountability favored by many of his Democratic colleagues. In a November 2022 speech, Jeffries went so far as to borrow the language of segregationist George Wallace ([link removed]) (!!) to express his support for Israel.

The State Department also cited Cavallaro for having reportedly characterized Israel as an apartheid state ([link removed]) (as does Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and even some Israeli human-rights organizations), a label which the Biden administration rejects. People are denied nominations and promotions in Washington over ideological disagreements all the time, but to withdraw the nomination of a celebrated career human rights advocate and scholar (for a position that would have no impact on Middle East policy) because he accurately observed that the leading House Democrat’s top campaign contributors are pro-Israel lobby groups, a fact which would in all likelihood affect how he legislates, perpetuates an ethically dubious, damaging norm in American politics.

Federal prosecutors investigating disgraced former president Donald Trump’s theft of classified documents have asked a court to force his attorney Evan Corcoran to provide additional testimony ([link removed]) , citing evidence that Trump used him in furtherance of a crime which negates the shield of attorney-client privilege.


Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) helped defeat a bill that would shield period tracking data from the reaches of law enforcement ([link removed]) . The “party of small government” does it again!!


Recovered text messages show that Metropolitan Police officer Shane Lamond frequently provided Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio with internal information about law enforcement operations in the weeks leading up to the January 6 insurrection ([link removed]) . Hey, seems like alt-right members and sympathizers keep popping up in police departments, maybe someone should do something about that!


The People’s Republic of China threatened today to take measures against the United States for shooting down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon ([link removed]) off the east coast last week.


First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon is stepping down after eight years ([link removed]) and outlasting five British prime ministers (ed note: primes minister) leaving the future of the Scottish independence movement uncertain.


Payton Gendron, the White supremacist who killed 10 black people at a Buffalo, NY, supermarket last May, was sentenced to life in prison without parole ([link removed]) after pleading guilty in November to crimes including murder and domestic terrorism.


Starbucks CEO and union-buster-in-chief Howard Schultz has declined to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee ([link removed]) about the company’s compliance (or lack thereof) with federal labor laws. Can you believe there were Democrats who once thought Schultz would make a good Secretary of Labor?


The city of Barcelona has temporarily broken its ties with Israel ([link removed]) due to what the Mayor of Barcelona referred to as the “systematic violation” of Palestinian human rights.


Lawyers for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) say that he won’t be charged by the DOJ in a federal sex-trafficking probe ([link removed]) . Oh good, now he can get back to trying to add work requirements to Medicaid without fear of (this one particular) indictment.

A group of more than 180 New York Times contributors published an open letter condemning the paper’s coverage of trans issues ([link removed]) , which the signatories claim uses “an eerily familiar mix of pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language”—a reference to the paper’s scapegoating coverage of the gay community during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s.

The Kremlin has announced that its troops broke through two fortified defense lines in eastern Ukraine ([link removed]) . After months of humiliating battlefield defeats and reversals, Russia has intensified attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, bolstered by tens of thousands of reservists conscripted in December. Western allies have announced more military aid for Kyiv in recent weeks, but some reports anticipate a major new Russian offensive ahead of the first anniversary of its invasion. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hanna Malyar, said Russian forces are mounting “round-the-clock” assaults on government positions, but did not specify further. The Russian strategy to encircle major cities in the Donetsk region of Ukraine appears to be slowly but steadily advancing. In Kyiv, Ukrainian military officials said that six Russian balloons that may have contained military
surveillance equipment were shot down over the city today. Man, these freaking balloons are really giving everyone trouble!!
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Senate Democrats just introduced a bill to quadruple the tax on corporate stock buybacks ([link removed]) . Okay, so it’s only increasing from one percent to four percent but we gotta start somewhere.


A New York state appellate court has upheld an order finding disgraced former president Trump in civil contempt ([link removed]) for failing to comply with a subpoena from the state attorney general, he will have to pay a $110,000 fine.


The FDA is considering whether the opioid overdose-reversal drug naloxone should be made available as an over-the-counter medication ([link removed]) .


More Americans are pushing back against election deniers ([link removed]) .

Universal Orlando Resort will raise its starting minimum wage from $15 to $17 per hour ([link removed]) , which will make it a leader among the big central Florida theme parks. Save us a seat on the E.T. Adventure ride.
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