Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) continuing his meme of refusing to negotiate, says
We not only have a shutdown, but we have the full faith and credit of our nation before us in a week or ten days[.]
Never mind that this could have been settled much earlier in the year, but for Democrats’ and President Barack Obama’s intransigence:
Reid and other Democrats blocked numerous attempts…to approve House-passed bills reopening portions of the government.
And there’s that whole “Presidential” series of “veto threats against GOP spending bills” thing. The “GOP” part is the kicker.
In the end, it’s clear that, having gotten the government shutdown for which the Democrats have fought so hard, they’re now bent on default.
Again, I ask, why? I also ask against this backdrop: from Section 8 of our Constitution we have
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States….
Paying the national debt isn’t just one of only three purposes for which the Federal government is permitted to “lay and collect Taxes;” it’s the first purpose.
And from the 14th Amendment we have
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.
The Federal government collects in tax revenue roughly 10 times the amount of money required to make the payments on the national debt as they come due. Suggesting that that’s in danger, that debt default is a risk, is dishonest.