Brooks: Dems Need a Plan to Cut Spending to Raise Debt Ceiling

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks argued that Democrats need to have a plan to raise the debt ceiling that offers concessions to Republicans because of the leverage held by the “nihilistic wing” of the party and potential “craziness” they might create.

Brooks said, “I think the Democrats are right for right now to say, we need a clean bill, we’re not going to — I think they should have in their back pocket a plan to — in case craziness happens, that offers the Republicans something so they can get 60 votes. The problem with the Republicans, and especially the more hardcore ones, is that they’re doing what they always do. They’re going into a battle [with] no plan on how to get out of it. And I don’t think they even know what they’re asking for in exchange. And so, there’s all sorts of dissension over that. And there are some — there’s just this nihilistic wing who think that stopping the system is what they’re here to do. And stopping the system is not exactly governance. And you’ve just got to deal with the fact that they’ve got leverage right now. And so that’s why I think the Democrats should have a back pocket plan.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett