Senate Dems refuse to allow debate on House bill to raise debt ceiling

As you may know, the government is about to hit the statutory "debt ceiling"--a legal limit, set by congress, on how much money the government is allowed to borrow.

Last Tuesday, Republicans in the House passed a bill--"Cut, cap and balance"--that would give the president the $2.4 Trillion increase in the debt limit that he's been seeking, but only if both houses of congress pass a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.

On Friday the Democrat-controlled senate--on a straight party-line vote--voted to "table" the bill, essentially killing it without even allowing any debate over its effects.

Now, one can find several flaws in the House bill, but you'd think the way to make progress would be for Democratic opponents to specifically identify any alleged flaws in a public forum, honestly reported to the wider public, and then introduce and debate amendments to the bill to eliminate any defects.

At least that's what they taught us in civics class.

But the Democrats in the senate--seeing the popularity with voters of cutting government spending--refuse to even allow the bill to be debated on the senate floor.

Wow. Is that the way a democracy is supposed to work? Is that good government? Is that an adult, rational approach to an approaching problem that could have dire effects as soon as mid-August? (No one actually knows, since congress has always managed to raise the debt ceiling ever time before.)

One prediction I can confidently make: The mainstream media will blame the Republicans for any problems, while merrily ignoring the senate's cynical, politically cunning act of killing the House Republicans' bill.