Making the rounds on the Sunday news programs this morning, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, pressed by NBC’s David Gregory, suggested that, yes, he’s willing to risk a government shutdown in order to hold the line in the upcoming negotiations over the debt ceiling. You may recall that President Obama, for his part, has announced that he will not negotiate over raising the debt ceiling: “While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed.”
“It’s a shame that we have to use whatever leverage we have in Congress to get the president to deal with the biggest program confronting our future, and that’s our excessive spending,” McConnell said. “You’re saying, despite whatever the business community thinks, you may have to push it to the brink once again?” Gregory asked. “What we’re saying here is, the biggest problem confronting the country is our excessive spending. If we’re not going to deal with it now, when are we going to deal with it?” McConnell responded. “We’ve watched the government explode over the last four years. We’ve dealt with the revenue issue. Now the question is, will the president lead?”
If McConnell is any indication, and he is, then a major showdown is on the horizon.