The Key Man In Washington –But Just For One More Month

by Stuart Shapiro

Dave-dr-gonzo posted earlier today about Speaker Boehner’s plea to Democrats to help pass a budget.  This occurred after he failed to convince the Tea Party caucus in the House to pass a budget resolution to continue the sequester until December.  Boehner is getting increasingly squeezed:

Conservatives seem determined to provoke a crisis, whether it’s over funding the government past September 30 or increasing the Treasury’s borrowing limit. If that happens, Boehner will face a choice. He can stand by while government services and the economy suffer—or, as Greg Sargent recently suggested, he can “cut the Tea Party loose, and suffer the consequences.” Yes, the consequences might include Boehner losing his job as speaker. Those are the kinds of risks real leaders take, in order to serve the public.

Whether Boehner abandons the Tea Party and loses his Speakership or abandons the best interests of most of the country and loses his party, the majority, his days as Speaker are limited.  But before he goes, his choice will have a major impact on the U.S. economy.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.