{"id":46962,"date":"2023-01-26T12:35:32","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T12:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/opinion-the-discharge-petition-wont-save-us-from-a-debt-ceiling-default\/"},"modified":"2023-01-26T12:35:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T12:35:32","slug":"opinion-the-discharge-petition-wont-save-us-from-a-debt-ceiling-default","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/opinion-the-discharge-petition-wont-save-us-from-a-debt-ceiling-default\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion | The discharge petition won\u2019t save us from a debt ceiling default"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"wpds-c-grBDNq hide-for-print mb-sm undefined\">\n<div class=\"PJLV PJLV-iAjpuP-css flex items-center\" config=\"[object Object]\" data-qa=\"article-actions\">\n<div class=\"wpds-c-fLphcs\">\n<div class=\"wpds-c-jmLDag wpds-c-jmLDag-bywHgD-variant-primary wpds-c-jmLDag-biynoz-density-compact wpds-c-jmLDag-hZSyid-isOutline-true wpds-c-jmLDag-ejCoEP-icon-left wpds-c-jmLDag-futxca-cv wpds-c-jmLDag-iknmtxO-css\"><button aria-label=\"Comment\" class=\"PJLV PJLV-iPnDcc-css\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" fill=\"currentColor\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"wpds-c-kKAfCG wpds-c-efqEZa focus-highlight flex items-center justify-center brad-lg pointer transition-400 ease-in-out transition-colors\" aria-label=\"Comment on this story\"><title>Comment on this story<\/title><path d=\"M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p>Comment<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"teaser-content grid-center\">\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\"><i>Joshua Huder is a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The fast-approaching collision on the debt ceiling has focused minds around Washington on off-ramps and third ways \u2014 from platinum coins to novel constitutional arguments to intricate legislative maneuvers. Of them all, the \u201cdischarge process\u201d has received the most attention.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">In a normal debt ceiling debate \u2014 if anything about this manufactured crisis can be called \u201cnormal\u201d \u2014 congressional leaders jockey to avoid blame for the national debt before reluctantly passing a bill to avert default that everyone knew all along they would pass. This time, however, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) owes his job to hard-line conservatives who don\u2019t want the debt ceiling raised unless it is paired with historic entitlement-spending concessions. That leaves the speaker tied tightly to a position that is a nonstarter for the party that holds the White House and half of the legislative branch \u2014 with a potentially cataclysmic default of the U.S. government hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">How to escape this dangerous stalemate? This week, Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2023\/01\/24\/house-democrats-eye-possible-way-out-debt-limit-debacle\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chris Van Hollen<\/a> of Maryland, who was the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee during the last big debt limit showdown, suggested that a \u201cdischarge petition\u201d is the most likely way out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The discharge process, established in 1910, enables a majority of the House to sidestep the speaker and committee chairs to push forward needed legislation on their own. Because it allows a majority of the House to circumvent committees and the speaker, the mechanism was meant as a sort of emergency release valve. If House leaders refused to bring a popular bill to a vote, rank-and-file members had a means to go around them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">So far so good \u2014 except it won\u2019t be of much use in dealing with the debt limit. There is a twofold problem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">First, discharge is an <i>extremely<\/i> slow process: A given bill must sit in committee for 30 legislative days. Then 218 House members have to sign a petition calling for it to be \u201cdischarged\u201d to the floor. Then that petition needs to sit on a House calendar for seven legislative days. And only then can a member bring the bill to a vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2023\/01\/25\/debt-ceiling-luck-congress\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_13\">Ramesh Ponnuru: The scariest part of the debt ceiling impasse<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font--article-body font-copy gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Second, the discharge process is clumsy. For it to work, this rogue majority of House members would need to strike a deal with Senate leaders far in advance, then pass that deal through both chambers without changes \u2014 or the House members who discharged the bill lose control of it to the speaker.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Put simply, the discharge process is not designed to accommodate fluid bicameral negotiations up against an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/whats-the-debt-ceiling-and-will-the-us-raise-it\/2023\/01\/19\/9ba54b6e-980f-11ed-a173-61e055ec24ef_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_16\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">uncertain deadline<\/a>. Using it to address the debt limit would be like trying to win a Formula One race in a semitruck.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">But there is an alternative that <i>could<\/i> work: simply hijacking the House floor. At the end of the day, a majority runs the House. If just five Republican moderates aligned with Democrats, a majority of House members could navigate the complex set of votes, motions and amendments needed to pass a debt limit bill over the objections of McCarthy and their Republican colleagues. Procedurally, there is basically nothing stopping this. And it would not require long waits or advanced negotiations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">But there is no modern precedent for this actually happening \u2014 and for the same reason that discharge petitions are vanishingly rare.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">At core, there is no getting around the fact that both a discharge process and renegade floor action would represent partisan heresy. The problem with the discharge process, in other words, is not the arduous waiting periods or complex procedural maneuvers it requires, but the incredible political pressure that Republicans members would endure from leaders, conservative media and vocal constituents if they tried it. The reasons discharge petitions succeed only <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bindersab\/status\/1613235393855381508\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2 percent of the time<\/a> is the same reason that cross-partisan alliances don\u2019t hijack the House floor: The political cost of turning your back on your colleagues is too high. Just ask Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">That said, political careers very well could be the cost of raising the debt ceiling in 2023. Republican moderates sidestepping their leadership and conference risk a career-ending primary. If McCarthy allows a debt limit vote \u2014 or simply fails to oppose moderates\u2019 efforts stringently enough \u2014 conservatives could trigger the motion to vacate the chair and replace him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">It may be a group of GOP House moderates two years from now, or it may be Speaker McCarthy two months from now, but the hard reality is that some House Republicans may have to risk their jobs to avoid economic default.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hide-for-print\" data-testid=\"collections__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpds-c-iRrQDa wpds-c-iRrQDa-ibLfOyz-css\">\n<div class=\"wpds-c-eZQlgr\">\n<div data-qa=\"styled-package-label\"><label class=\"wpds-c-izoWfM wpds-c-izoWfM-jPiQqD-size-md wpds-c-izoWfM-iPJLV-css\"><\/p>\n<p>Popular opinions articles<\/p>\n<p><\/label><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><button alt=\"view more stories\" class=\"wpds-c-jmLDag wpds-c-jmLDag-SQjOY-variant-secondary wpds-c-jmLDag-biynoz-density-compact wpds-c-jmLDag-hGNJMA-icon-center wpds-c-jmLDag-ikSMOab-css\">View 3 more stories<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" fill=\"currentColor\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"wpds-c-dJBvpf wpds-c-gmtmov\" aria-label=\"view more button\"><path d=\"m3.38 6 .71-.71L8 9.25l3.91-3.92.71.71L8 10.67Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"dn-ns hide-for-print\" data-testid=\"mostRead\" subscriptions-section=\"content\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMiW2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDIzLzAxLzI2L2RlYnQtY2VpbGluZy1kaXNjaGFyZ2UtcGV0aXRpb24tZGVmYXVsdC_SAQA?oc=5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comment on this story Comment Joshua Huder is a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. The fast-approaching collision on the debt ceiling has focused minds around Washington on off-ramps and third ways \u2014 from platinum coins to novel constitutional arguments to intricate legislative maneuvers. Of them all, the \u201cdischarge process\u201d has &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46962"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}