As debt limit debate rages, both sides warn of "dictatorship"
As debate over raising the debt ceiling continues in Washington, Republicans and Democrats are invoking heated rhetoric about the other side - and in one case, they're starting to sound eerily similar.
In two separate interviews between over the past 24 hours, GOP presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann and Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz each referenced "dictatorship" in discussing the debt fight.
In a Wednesday interview with Politico, Wasserman Shultz, D-Fla., argued that Republicans are trying to "force the outcome" of the debt limit debate - and likened their tactics to those employed under authoritarian rule.
"Aren't we at the point where the closer we get to chaos, the more concern that there should be about coming to the table and compromising with Democrats?" she asked. "This is not leadership. This is almost like dictatorship. I know they want to force the outcome that ... their extremists would like to impose. But they are getting ready to spark panic and chaos, and they seem to be OK with that. And it's just really disappointing, and potentially devastating."
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Meanwhile, in a Thursday interview with CNN's "American Morning," Bachmann argued that, were President Obama to use the 14th Amendment to increase the nation's federal borrowing limit, he would be acting against the Constitution - and seizing absolute power. (Mr. Obama has said he is uninterested in taking such an action.)
"It's Congress that does the spending. The president is prohibited to do that. If he had the power to do that he would effectively be a dictator," Bachmann said. "There would be no reason for Congress to even come to Washington, D.C. He would be making the spending decisions ... Clearly that's unconstitutional."
Both members of Congress went on to criticize the leadership of the other party in their debt ceiling dealings.
Bachmann charged Mr. Obama with a lack of comprehension of the issues - and gave him a "big f" on his economic report card.
"What President Obama has failed to do is properly understand the issues. On every measure this president has failed," she said.
Wasserman Schultz accused Republicans of moving "further and further" away from compromise - and pushing the nation toward chaos.
"It's just shockingly irresponsible that the closer we get to the breaking point here, the more irresponsible - and the closer they are to pushing us to chaos, as if that is the desired outcome," she said. "We've been sitting at the compromise table for a long time. We're just waiting for that cold chair to be warmed up by the Republican leadership. They still have time to do the right thing and be responsible. They just seem to be moving further and further away from it."
The U.S. House will vote Thursday on a GOP proposal to raise the debt limit, but Senate Democrats have already pledged to vote against it - and the White House has issued a presidential veto threat. The Senate Democrat plan, meanwhile, is unlikely to gain sufficient support to pass in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives.
