WSJ: GOP Needs to Call Obama’s Bluff on Debt Limit Increase

Republicans should stand fast in insisting on spending cuts to accompany a debt-limit increase, according to a Wall Street Journal editorial.

President Barack Obama has pledged that he won’t negotiate with the GOP about raising the debt ceiling.

“That may be a debt-limit bluff, but even if it is, the GOP will have to show heretofore unseen determination to call that bluff,” Journal editors write.

“Mr. Obama will say Republicans are risking national default and recession, most of Wall Street will echo him, and the Treasury will maneuver to apply maximum political pressure — for example, by claiming it can't pay Social Security benefits.”

Republicans can’t cave in to that, the editorial says.

It offers advice on how House Speaker John Boehner can counter Obama’s big-government policies. Boehner must “recognize that he can't govern from the House, but use the leverage of the spending sequester and power of the purse to see what few policy victories can be had,” Journal editors state.

“Find some programs and special interests to showcase and defund, in the manner of the Bridge to Nowhere. Take on corporate welfare.” And Boehner should cede the role of chief party spokesmen to other GOP congressmen, the editorial says.

It also recommends that Boehner try to pass small, positive reforms that might garner some Democratic support, “Focus on promoting economic growth and raising middle-class incomes,” The Journal editors write. “Use the House's oversight power to illuminate big problems like Obamacare and government failures, not small beer like ‘Fast and Furious.’"