Wall Street to GOP: Are you nuts?

By BEN WHITE | 9/26/13 5:06 PM EDT

Senior Republicans believe they will be on stronger political ground if they allow a relatively clean bill funding the government to reach the president’s desk and instead use the debt-hike battle to gut Obamacare.

That’s a very dubious assumption.

Political analysts and market experts say this strategy could wind up doing lasting damage to both the United States economy and the GOP’s national political standing.

The fundamental flaw: There is no scenario under which the GOP is going to achieve its main stated goal, delaying the Affordable Care Act, through a debt limit showdown. The White House and Senate Democrats would never agree to such a demand. And senior administration officials say privately that their public refusal to negotiate over the debt limit is not simply a political ploy they will inevitably have to cast aside. Perhaps aware of the risks, House GOP leadership is now considering postponing a vote on a debt limit that includes an Obamacare delay to see what they can get out of a continuing resolution that funds the government past Sept. 30.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/wall-street-gop-are-you-nuts-97425.html#ixzz2g71kLDjQ




Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/wall-street-gop-are-you-nuts-97425.html#ixzz2g71bpptG