Will The House GOP Have a Backbone?

The Republicans are taking control of the House on Wednesday. Their first big test is going to be over the debt ceiling. Currently the debt ceiling is $14.3 trillion, which the Federal government is going to hit early this year. Congress must raise the debt ceiling in order for the government to continue going into debt.

In a perfect DC the Republicans would refuse to raise the debt ceiling and thus force Congress to make cuts so that the government doesn’t come anywhere near hitting $14.3 trillion in debt. I highly doubt that the perfect world scenario is going to happen. Instead, the Republicans will raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts. If the GOP is going to go ahead and raise the debt ceiling they need to hold out for substantial spending cuts, perhaps even cuts to Obamacare. The Republicans owe this to the folks who got them elected, specifically the Tea Party activists who campaigned hard for these guys. They also owe it to the American people to cut the size of government as they promised to do. We’ll know very early in this year whether the House Republicans have a backbone or whether they’ll bow before the throne of Obama.