A growing number of Democrats claim they will oppose raising the debt ceiling

  A growing number of Democrats are now claiming that they will oppose raising the debt ceiling unless it is coupled with more spending cuts. This article states that this is just the latest example of how the Tea Party is influencing federal spending in Washington, and it may be true but I have my doubts about the true intent of these Democrats for we have seen this before.

  While I would love to believe that the Tea Party is responsible for this turn of events, I can’t help but think there is something else at play here. During the healthcare reform debate we read many stories about Democrats who were either on the fence or planned to vote against Obamacare only to see them acquiesce to the president after gaining kickbacks for their states, and I have a feeling that this is what we are seeing here also.

  With the Republicans firmly opposed to the healthcare reform law, Democrats realized that they held a certain power over the president and they asserted it. They knew that the president needed all Democrats to vote in favor of Obamacare so some of them threatened to cast a vote which would kill the healthcare reform bill. But their true intent was never to vote against the bill, but rather to cash in on the bill by gaining earmarks for their respective states. And it worked; these Democrats were paid millions of dollars for their votes and the rest is history.

  And I think that we could possibly see this once again. With some Republicans appearing ready to vote in favor of raising the debt ceiling there is only one thing standing in the way; if some Democrats hold out there is the chance that the debt ceiling will not be raised. There are some Democrats who might see this as a chance to once again gain a little federal money in order to secure their vote, so they threaten to vote against rasing the debt ceiling until they can be “convinced”–or better yet, bribed–to vote in favor of raising the debt ceiling. 

  This pushback from some Democrats is coming from those that face tough re-election campaigns so there is the chance that I am being a little paranoid here, but as I said, we have seen this before and I can’t help but think that they have an ulterior motive. I hope that I am wrong and I hope that they have seen the light–even if they are only doing this to save their own asses–and do in fact intend to push for spending cuts as a condition to raising the debt ceiling and will settle for nothing less, but please forgive me for being so cynical, I just do not trust them anymore.