Redstate
Chuck Schumer Introduces the ‘McConnell Rule’
By Daniel Horowitz
October 20th, 2013

Last week, I noted that Mitch McConnell’s slick debt ceiling plan would pave the road for permanently abolishing the debt limit, as long as members would get a ceremonial vote of disapproval. Well, it didn’t take long for the idea to grow roots. On Meet the Press, Chuck Schumer, who has enthusiastically praised McConnell for doing his bidding, announced that he would introduce legislation echoing the “McConnell rule.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will propose legislation that would make permanent a plan to take the decision to raise the country’s debt limit out of Congress’s hands.

By making the so-called “McConnell rule” permanent, the president would have ultimate authority to raise the debt limit and prevent the United States from defaulting.

Congress would still have power to oppose raising the debt ceiling, but would not have to vote to increase the borrowing limit.

“If we were to do that, the chances of going up to the brink again, the chances of this kind of debacle, will decrease,” Schumer said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Late on Wednesday, the House and Senate passed legislation to raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit and reopen the federal government.

The irony here is that McConnell has made it clear he is abandoning any talk of Obamacare and will instead focus on spending and debt in the abstract. We already explained why it is dumb policy and stupid politics to focus on random spending cuts instead of Obamacare and other harmful government interventions that destroy jobs, raise the cost of living, and infringe upon personal liberties. But the idea that we will ever fight against more spending when McConnell has given the farm away on any future debt ceiling leverage is absurd.

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