US debt ceiling crisis can be explained in three words: Marjorie Taylor Greene

US debt ceiling crisis can be explained in three words: Marjorie Taylor Greene OK, it's not 100% fair to blame America hurling toward an economic crisis solely on the Georgia congresswoman, but she and her fellow MAGA lawmakers are certainly at the root of the US's dilemma.

Show Caption Hide Caption Debt ceiling negotiations could have far-reaching impacts beyond its resolution While Republicans have passed a debt limit plan, the bill is unlikely to pass in the Senate, creating a clash between parties. Megan Smith, USA TODAY

The ongoing debt ceiling crisis can be explained in three words: Marjorie Taylor Greene.

OK, it's not 100% fair to blame America hurling toward an economic crisis solely on the nonsense-spouting Georgia congresswoman, but she and her fellow MAGA lawmakers are certainly at the root of the country’s present dilemma.

Here are some simple facts to consider.

The debt ceiling has to be raised

If the ceiling isn't raised, according to Treasury Secretary and person-who-has-had-just-about-enough-of-these-stupid-shenanigans Janet Yellen, America will default on its debts somewhere around June 1. If that happens, all economic hell will break loose, likely plunging the United States into a recession and potentially bringing the global economy down with it.

Raising the debt ceiling has never been a big deal when there's a Republican in the White House

Republicans in Congress raised it three times under President Donald Trump without issue, even as Trump was adding nearly $7.8 trillion to the national debt. It’s a dumb and dangerous cudgel being swung about by lummoxes who don’t care if others get hurt.

The debt ceiling allows the country to pay debts it has already incurred

It has nothing to do with new spending. It’s like refusing to pay this month’s credit-card bill until your teenager agrees to stop buying expensive lattes. You’re bickering over money already spent. You pay the bill and then take away the kid’s card, not the other way around.

The Republican House Speaker McCarthy is fully in the pocket of Big MAGA

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Greene and the House’s collection of destructive MAGA lawmakers, politicians whose every decision is driven by the questions “Will this make me look cool on Fox News?” and “Will this make former President Donald Trump love me more?” So rather than attempt to be reasonable or concerned about the nation’s economy, the speaker is all-in on demanding that President Joe Biden make massive budgetary concessions in exchange for McCarthy and his merry band of bunglers doing quite literally the bare minimum — not tanking the U.S. economy.

Addressing reports of a Democratic maneuver to force a clean debt-ceiling increase, Greene tweeted Tuesday that no House Republicans would go along with it, noting ominously: "That would be a career ending move unless they want to switch parties.:

Biden wants to know Republicans won't hold the U.S. economy hostage

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of Biden: “So, look, he’s going to continue to make very clear that this is up to Congress to act when it comes to the debt ceiling. This is a question for them: What are you going to do and how are you going to let the American people know that you’re not going to hold the American economy hostage?"

The answer from Republicans appears to be: “We’re going to hold the American economy hostage. PFFFFTTTTTTTT!”

A Republican debt-ceiling bill that's dead on arrival

Last week the GOP-led House passed a debt-ceiling bill called the “Limit, Save, Grow Act.” It raises the debt ceiling, but only if there are $4.5 trillion in cuts to government programs, including a number of Biden initiatives on climate change, student loans and funding the IRS to help run down tax cheats. The act also adds new work requirements for welfare recipients. It would be more accurately called the “LOL, Nope, Mean Act.”

As Biden has made clear, and as Jean Pierre repeated Tuesday: “He is not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling." But the president is "willing to have a separate conversation on the budget.”

That’s what people who aren’t into governing-by-chaos call “sensible.” You pay your bills - period. You debate future spending when you’re figuring out a budget. It’s what every American has to do.

Responsible governing is simply not the MAGA way

But it’s not what Greene and Co., along with their House-pet McCarthy, want to do, because doing responsible, adult things is a sign of weakness in MAGA-land, where every day is Opposite Day.

Toying around with conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election or fetishizing the Jan. 6 attackers as patriotic martyrs is all fun and games. But mucking about with the full faith and credit of the United States of America could cause untold financial harm to millions upon millions of people here and around the globe.

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A meeting with McCarthy is coming up, but will it go anywhere?

Biden has agreed to meet with McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries next week. They will presumably look for an off-ramp that avoids a Thelma-and-Louise-style outcome.

But what, exactly, can McCarthy bring back to the pit of dull-witted vipers who make up the MAGA swath of the House of Representatives?

“Well, Rep. Greene, I’m sorry, President Biden wouldn’t agree to your demand that he immediately report to prison and install Donald Trump as president. He also said no to deporting Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton to the moon, although he did say he’d look into that Jewish space laser you’ve been concerned about.”

America's economic future hangs in the balance, and the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world could care less

These are not serious people. They are opportunistic destroyers of logic, and Biden should not negotiate with them over something that has always gotten done in the past and absolutely has to be done now.

So again, the debt-ceiling crisis we’re enduring is not wholly the fault of Marjorie Taylor Greene. But she and her ilk in the House are the reason the Republican Party is sprinting away from sanity.

And they may well be the reason the rest of us get run right off the fiscal cliff.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

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