If Republicans and Democrats sit together at the State of the Union address, consider it one more sign of End Times. If they're all more civil and polite, they'll just reach more bipartisan consensus, and that's usually not a good thing:
The Congress must allow the country to borrow more to avoid a debt default that would wreak havoc on financial markets and imperil the U.S. economy, Democratic and Republican lawmakers said on Sunday.
Threatening not to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling -- the amount of debt the country is legally allowed to issue -- is "like playing with fire," Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"If we didn't renew the debt ceiling ... We might permanently threaten confidence of the credit markets in the dollar, which could create a recession worse than the one we have now or even a depression," he said.
Republican Senator Tom Coburn also predicted a dire outcome if lawmakers were unable to reach an agreement to put the country's fiscal house in order.
It's dismaying how many Republican members of Congress and supposedly conservative pundits agree that of course they have to raise the debt limit to avoid catastrophic default and the Americans who disagree -- an asonishing 71 percent -- simply do not understand the complexities of the situation. But agreeing to increase the limit again is the coward's way out, no matter how many meaningless concessions are given on spending cuts. Caving on the debt ceiling reveals the mindset that gurantees the concessions won't be honored.
Chris Christie and Tim Pawlenty have the better argument. Refusing to raise the ceiling will not inevitably lead to default if lawmakers simply exercise the spending restraint they have been unwilling to show before:
WALLACE: Back in 2005, you allowed the government of Minnesota to shut down for nine days because of a disagreement with the Democratic legislature about taxes and spending. Should congressional Republicans take the same tough stance when it comes to raising the debt limit and federal spending?
PAWLENTY: Well, what I've learned, Chris, after eight years of doing in a very liberal place -- I love my state, but it's liberal in terms of spending and government -- is you've got to draw some lines in the sands. ...
And as to the federal government, they should not raise the debt ceiling. I believe they should pass legislation, allow them to sequence the spending as the revenues come in to make sure they don't default, and then have the debate about what other spending can be reduced.
