I was trying so hard not to write about Boehner again, but the media has been covering him ad nauseam since he announced his resignation, so our ever-sad Speaker is hard to avoid. Instead of focusing on his resignation or the scramble to elect a successor as Speaker, as some of my classmates have already covered, I am interested in what Boehner is doing in the weeks up until his departure from the House. While Congress only has until December 11th to come up with a funding bill to keep the government functioning (Barrett and Walsh 2015), perhaps their top priority at the moment is to deal with the debt ceiling, which has been given a deadline of November 5th. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that, because the U.S. reached its borrowing limit earlier this year, the government will likely only have around $30 billion left to spend by early November (Sahadi 2015); without raising or suspending the existing debt ceiling, the U.S. could end up defaulting on its financial obligations, which would have incredibly negative impacts on the economy (Schroeder 2015). Boehner's resignation takes effect on October 30th, just a few days before this crucial deadline, which means that he will be facing great pressure to handle the situation as a final move before leaving.
Democrats, it seems, are hopeful that Boehner will reach across party lines and attempt to work out an agreement in time to keep the nation from a default. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is among those pushing Boehner to help foster such a deal, as Democrats are likely to support raising the debt limit while many Republicans will oppose it (Lesniewski 2015). Schumer's comments frame the benefits of a bipartisan agreement as extending to both parties—Democrats will get their debt ceiling increase, and the GOP will avoid blame for a potential default as well as have less on their plate when the new Speaker takes over. Moreover, it could be a redeeming moment for Boehner's tenure as Speaker, as his decision to leave has been widely criticized as a move that will portray him as a failure.
I've been writing this post in segments, and as of this morning, when House Republicans were scheduled to elect a new Speaker (pending a full-chamber vote), frontrunner and current House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) backed out of the race. This complicates the end of Boehner's Speakership, as he will not be allowed to step down from his position until a new Speaker is elected; and, McCarthy out of the picture, this could be a longer process than previously anticipated. If Boehner, in fact, does remain Speaker through at least November 5th, then he will face considerably more pressure to deal with debt ceiling issue. And this pressure will be nothing new for Speaker Boehner—his own party, and more specifically the conservative/Tea Party factions, will likely oppose raising the nation's debt limit while Democrats, according to Schumer, will be inclined to support it (Lesniewski 2015). Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), a potential candidate for the Speakership, has recently blasted GOP leaders in both chambers for their attempts to prevent the shutdown and default, saying: "I think it’s wrong to signal that you’re going to cave in the end" (Ibid). This is not unlike the debacle over Planned Parenthood, with conservative Republicans pushing to stick to their guns (no pun intended, but certainly appreciated) even if it means causing considerable chaos in and harm to the U.S. government. Thus, it looks like Boehner might not be able to escape the ongoing partisan (and inter-party) divides as soon as he hoped. If he is unable to bring the House to an agreement on the debt ceiling debate, it could have tremendous consequences for the nation and also for the reputation of Boehner's Speakership.
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http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/01/news/economy/debt-ceiling-jack-lew/
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/255687-lew-gives-congress-a-debt-limit-deadline-nov-5
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-2015-funding-vote-senate-continuing-resolution/index.html?iid=EL
http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/schumer-urges-boehner-to-go-big-before-going-home/?dcz=
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