Capitol of despair

For weeks, the main question among lawmakers, aides, lobbyists and reporters was: What will be in the debt-limit deal? Now the question is: Will there be a deal at all?

On Tuesday, Capitol Hill was shrouded in despair.

{mosads}Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) expressed exasperation during his weekly news conference, and noted that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was publicly upbeat in June, is now growing “more concerned and solemn” about a reaching an agreement to raise the federal debt ceiling. 

The Dow and Nasdaq indexes dropped again, as the parties blamed each other for the impasse.

President Obama warned that Social Security checks might not go out on Aug. 3, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) retorted with a stinging rebuke.

Meanwhile, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) scrambled to persuade their GOP colleagues that there is no friction between them.

House Democrats enjoyed the GOP squabbling, but they are also concerned that Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) don’t agree either.

In short, there is a lot of partisan bickering and intraparty awkwardness in lieu of the deal that almost everyone agrees is necessary. Recrimination is the normal result of failure in politics, and what we have now is a lot of recrimination flowing from a lot of failure.

During a photo op Monday, a reporter asked President Obama, “Are you closer to a deal?”

The president smiled and replied, “Thank you very much.” Translation: No.

And when Obama told congressional negotiators that they would reconvene at the White House at 3:45 the next day, Reid asked, “a.m. or p.m.?” The president’s response? “We might get to that.”

Debate over raising the debt ceiling is utterly different from the fiscal 2011 budget showdown. The stakes then were not as high, and there was always a feeling that agreement would be reached. At most, the government would be shuttered for a day or two.

Now, instead, there is uncertainty, and the repercussions for the global economy could be an order of magnitude greater. Reid warned that the stock market could crash, though some conservatives dismiss such predictions.

Certainly, however, having found it impossible to get debt under control by the most obvious method of cutting spending and raising revenues, people are instead looking for more arcane and tortuous ways to avoid calamity. 

Some have said Obama should invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling. McConnell offered a fallback plan that would put responsibility for increasing the debt limit entirely on Obama. 

We’ll see whether these tangential ideas can be taken seriously or are no more than evidence that drowning men have started clutching at straws. But the auguries are not good. Reid has shot down the 14th Amendment balloon, and conservatives quickly blasted McConnell’s plan.

Still, it’s good that people are coming up with fresh ideas. The old one of living within one’s means appears to be getting nowhere.