So, not only are the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives holding the nation at knifepoint in the debt ceiling drama, but they are bragging about it!  Kevin McCarthy, Matt Gaetz and others have actually bragged about their efforts to attach ‘conditions’ to raising the debt ceiling … something that was not done during any of the three times the debt ceiling was raised under Donald Trump.  This, in and of itself, proves to me that the Republicans in Congress are not serious about governing, but rather are using the pretext of governing to run a three-ring circus with the likes of Marge Greene, George Santos, and Jim (Gym) Jordan as the top clowns and Kevin McCarthy as the ringleader.

One more time, for those who are Republicans and did not understand the first 50 times I said it:

The debt ceiling is NOT the budget … it is debt that we have already incurred and that MUST be paid in a timely manner! 

Please, Republicans, try to understand this!  You don’t sit at your kitchen table in the evening and say to your spouse, “Hmmmm … I won’t pay the electric bill unless you stop playing golf on Saturdays.”

Now, I have a suggestion to make.  If the United States defaults on its debt because the Republicans in the House of Representatives did not do their job, then one of the first things that should happen is that all congressional pay stops immediately!  The Capitol building should be closed, all offices locked, and no member of Congress allowed to enter the building nor access their office, computer, or other equipment.

Foolhardy, you say?  Is it any more foolhardy than holding the nation and its allies hostage to their whims … whims that are designed to hurt the poorest in the nation, while feeding the wealthy?  Any more foolhardy than sending the global economy into a tailspin?  Any more foolhardy than any of the other ‘policies’ that are spewed forth by the Republican Party for the sole purpose of making the rich, richer and the poor, poorer?

Kevin McCarthy is NOT a ‘Speaker of the House’ but rather a puppet of the other House Republicans like Comer, Greene, Jordan, Boebert, Scalise and others to whom he promised that which he could not deliver in order to obtain his current job … a job that he isn’t likely to be able to keep past summer.  Meanwhile, he and the other Republicans in Congress, most of whom apparently have never read the United States Constitution, are playing a dangerous game of Russian roulette … with our lives.

I was going to recommend that everyone reading this contact their representative today and demand that they vote to raise the debt ceiling with NO STRINGS ATTACHED, however … Congress has already left the building for their Memorial Day holiday and the House will not return until June 5^th, four days after the June 1 deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for a possible default.  There was a time … a time when we had people of conscience in Congress, that they would have cancelled or shortened their break for the good of the country, but not this Congress.  Thanks, guys … I hope you have the lousiest Memorial Day you’ve ever had.

I also liked Robert Reich’s take on the debt ceiling hostage situation and would likely have reblogged his if I hadn’t already written this one … take a look.