that Republicans “have a significant amount of leverage over the White House,” given that the amount of federal debt was reaching the statutory ceiling.
It’s been nearly 12 years since that interaction and Ambinder’s assessment of the political utility of the limit has gotten only more right. Over those 12 years, the once grudging-but-rote practice of elevating the limit as the debt approached turned into a series of fights over whether it should be raised at all.
The graph goes back to 1994, the first term of President Bill Clinton. About halfway across, you can see that 2010 news conference marked with a black line. That was the moment at which Ambinder predicted that the debt limit would be used for political blackmail. And it was. Notice the little black box at the center. The purple line indicating the amount of accrued debt becomes flat for a while; Congress didn’t raise the debt limit and so the amount of debt didn’t increase.
Are you saying there shouldn't be a debt limit? Seriously?
Bill Clinton says ‘there is a limit’ to how many migrants US can take without causing ‘disruption’