The end of the economy as we know it and they feel fine
The United States is an estimated 14 days from being unable to pay its debt for the first time in history.
The result could be catastrophic. The stock market would likely plummet. At a certain point, federal programs would lose funding. Social Security and Medicare checks wouldn’t go out.
The House left for the weekend shortly after noon. The Senate adjourned until after Memorial Day Weekend.
If one were to rank the level of concern among most lawmakers that the country will default on a scale of sitting poolside at an all-inclusive resort to dangling by a fraying rope over a tank of hungry sharks, lawmakers are pretty much leaning back and kicking up their feet on a desk.
“We’re not going to default,” freshman Republican Rep. Mark Alford told me, after saying he absolutely would not vote for a clean debt ceiling bill.
But Alford’s new in town. What about a more seasoned lawmaker? Is Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat in his tenth term, worried?
“Not now,” Cleaver said. “I was.”
He said the fact that President Joe Biden was cutting short his international trip after the G7 — forgoing visits to Australia and Papua New Guinea — was actually a positive sign that the country wouldn’t default.
Ok, fine, how about our Republican senators?
“I don’t think it’ll come to that,” said Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, after saying he doesn’t think President Joe Biden should use the 14th amendment as justification to ignore the debt limit.
Well, he’s often on the outskirts of these talks. How about leadership?
“We know we’re not gonna default,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier this week. “They know it, we know it.”
So why, does no one here seem to be worried? Simple. This is how it works.
Like a college student with a C-average (or like a journalist), Congress typically only gets moving when their deadline is upon them. And while lawmakers are playing a very high-stakes game of chicken in order to secure as many of their priorities as possible in negotiations, they usually seem to recognize the stakes and get a deal through.
In this case, some lawmakers see hope in the way the negotiations have gone. Biden has agreed to negotiate — a change after he insisted he would not negotiate over the debt limit, since it just authorizes payment for money that has already been spent. Biden’s team is meeting directly with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s team. He’s cutting his trip short to make sure a deal gets made.
But even after Biden and McCarthy strike a deal, it still would have to get through both the House and the Senate (which takes time). The Senate can likely push something through with bipartisan support. But McCarthy is working with a narrow House majority, he can only lose about four votes. That means it’s relatively easy for some renegade lawmakers who are willing to risk default to hold up the process, though that can be solved if it’s passed with bipartisan support.
It’s a difficult needle to thread, but it’s been done before. The last time the country came close to default, in 2011, McConnell and Biden, who was then serving as vice president, struck a last minute deal. The country’s credit was downgraded, but it avoided the doomsday scenario many are warning about.
Though if all else fails, Biden has been advised he might be able to just ignore the debt limit and continue paying the country’s bills. Even Hawley thinks the idea is tempting.
More from Missouri
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey withdrew his controversial rule that would have limited access to health care for transgender children and adults. The rule, which was temporarily blocked by the courts, had yet to go into effect. Bailey said he withdrew it because the General Assembly passed their own bill banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Here are headlines from across the state:
Bailey withdraws rule banning gender-affirming care for trans adults, children, Jonathan Shorman and Kacen Bayless
There’s ‘nothing more timid’ than a man watching porn, Hawley says in ‘Manhood’ book, Daniel Desrochers
If he were president, Hawley says, he’d be tempted to raise debt limit without Congress, Daniel Desrochers
Voters likely to reinstate abortion rights if given the chance, GOP says, Jonathan Shorman and Kacen Bayless
Missouri Republican infighting blocks priorities as session ends, Jonathan Shorman and Kacen Bayless
And across Kansas
Gov. Laura Kelly eliminated funding for Quindaro, a Civil War era town that served as a stop on the underground railroad from the state budget this week. The funding was a policy goal of state Rep. Marvin Robinson, who was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to override Kelly’s vetoes on a pair of bills that would restrict access to public spaces for transgender people and would prevent transgender women from participating in school sports.
Gov. Kelly vetoes Quindaro funding GOP allocated for KCK Dem who backed trans bans, Jonathan Shorman
Citing inflation, Kansas universities seek largest tuition hike in five years, Katie Bernard
AG Kobach leads letter criticizing proposed Biden rule blocking trans sports bans, Katie Bernard
‘This is a crisis:’ Kansas voters, politicians want to reform US immigration. But how?, Daniel Desrochers
Dancing with a fading past: Why hundreds flock to tiny Kansas town on Saturday nights, David Hudnall
The latest from Kansas City
In Kansas City …
Lawmakers are spending millions on the World Cup. Where’s it going?, Kacen Bayless and Katie Bernard
KC musician, entrepreneur, headed to White House for roundtable with VP Kamala Harris, Daniel Desrochers
KC urban farm aims to save the planet. Neighbors call it a nuisance, city cracks down, David Hudnall
Have a news tip? Send it along to ddesrochers@kcstar.com
Odds and ends
Hawley’s Manhood
Well, the jokes write themselves.
Hawley’s poorly-named book, “Manhood,” hit the shelves this week, prompting both critiques of his masculinity and television appearances where Hawley claimed liberals were “triggered” by his hurly-burly book.
But, as someone who read the book, it’s more Jimmy Stewart than John Wayne (my friends, who say my movie references are too old, said this should be “more Timothee Chalamet than Vin Diesel”).
Hawley takes a softer, Bible-heavy approach to masculinity, making the argument that men need to place others before themselves and work to make the world a better place. The effect is something of a sermon, picking out stories about Adam, Abraham, David and Solomon to make points about working hard, being a better husband and father, and finding God.
There are references to a hyperbolic “left” throughout the book (for some reason Hawley seems to believe that liberals think the Bible should be forbidden). He uses it as a strawman to claim liberals are out to make men feel bad. But the general message is a relatively universal one: Try and be the best person you can be.
“It’s meant to be encouraging to men and it’s meant to call them to get a vision for their lives and to transform their lives, their families, their neighborhoods, this nation,” Hawley said.
Yes, he criticizes watching porn, but he also goes after Andrew Tate, the former MMA fighter and influencer who was arrested for sex trafficking in Romania, saying he represents a child pretending to be a man.
“I really think he’s bought into what I characterize as the left’s line on masculinity, which is that it’s inherently toxic and I think Andrew Tate says ‘yeah, that’s true and that’s great,’” Hawley said to me, prefacing his comments that all he knows about Tate are from news articles he’s read about him.
Perhaps more interesting is some of what Hawley doesn’t include in the book.
He doesn’t make a mention of Trump, even as he denounces the type of male bravado the former President often espouses — and was found liable for.
And he doesn’t mention sexuality, even though he’s been very clear that he feels same-sex marriage goes against his beliefs.
When I asked him why he didn’t mention homosexuality, Hawley said the fight has moved on and is focused on gender identity.
“I hope that people will read the book, and will make applications to their own lives, wherever they are, whatever they do,” Hawley said. “I don’t try to prescribe who the audience is.”
More on Manhood
Hawley joins a very long tradition of political figures who claim there is a “crisis” among men, including one of his personal favorites — President Theodore Roosevelt.
I wrote a long story about how Hawley is using some of the problems facing men as a jumping point for his personal politics.
Michael Kimmel, a sociologist who founded the academic journal “Men and Masculinities,” said there are many ways that men police each other’s masculinity. Boys learn from their brothers, fathers, coaches and peers what is considered masculine and what is considered feminine and then, if they want to fit in, conform to those standards.
He said there’s a thing that some men experienced on the playground growing up. Someone, generally a boy, would tell you to check your nails. There was the masculine way to check them — fingers curled in — and a feminine way to check them — hand held out.
“That’s what homophobia is,” Kimmel said. “Homophobia is very often the fear that straight men may have, that other straight men might misperceive them as gay. And that’s what keeps us acting so wedded to that real man model.”
Happy Friday
I’m going to the Appalachian Mountains for a wedding this weekend, not far from where Junior Johnson allegedly learned to drive while running moonshine for his father. As I write this, it’s an absolutely gorgeous day in Washington, which makes me think of this song.
Enjoy your weekend.
Looking for more?
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For more politics news, follow @Kacen, @KatieJ_Bernard, @drdesrochers and @jonshorman.
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