If At First You Don’t Succeed

First off this morning, I hope you will call Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) today at (202) 224-5323 and tell him thank you for standing up to both Democrats and Republicans yesterday in a valiant attempt to force transparency on debt talks.Johnson declared his intend to grind the Senate to a halt by ceasing to give his consent to further Senate business by unanimous consent. The Democrats and a few Republicans ganged up on him, which can bruise the ego of a freshman Senator.Senator, I know you are reading. Don’t stop now. Be bold and do more of this. The rest of you should call and give him some encouragement on this.Second, I know many conservative congressmen are reading this Morning Briefing. I want to address them directly. You should stop dragging your feet hoping to get the votes for the Lee-Cornyn-Hatch Balanced Budget Amendment or the Walsh version in the House.You aren’t going to get the votes. You just aren’t. Go on and have the vote. You are going to lose. But then do something for me, will you?Make it clear that until you do get the votes necessary for passage you will obstruct and block an increase in the debt ceiling.I know I am asking you to do something unusual in Washington. Typically, in Washington, you get your vote, you lose, and you move on. But Washington politics as usual is what got us into this mess.So hold the freaking line. Hold the debt ceiling hostage. If the Democrats want the debt ceiling raised, they need to send Lee-Cornyn-Hatch out to the states for ratification. They can fight to stop it there. But do this for me — draw a line in the sand. You force a vote and then another vote and then another vote until you get the two-thirds needed in both houses and don’t you dare give up fighting against the debt ceiling increase until you get that two-thirds vote. The rules in this fight must be different. You must keep blocking until they give you what you want.

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