The New Year promises to get off to a rocky start in politics. As Republicans on the Sunday talk shows talked of repeal of the health care law and drastic spending cuts, Austan Goolsbee, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, warned against a failure to raise the country's debt ceiling—a vote that Tea Party advocates have said they would use to send a message about spending.
On Fox News Sunday, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who is the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that Republicans would vote to repeal health care before the State of the Union address. If the party failed to get a similar vote in the Senate, he said, "we're going to go after this bill piece by piece." Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., on Meet the Press, promised similar actions on Obama-sponsored legislation through defunding.
Allen West, R-Fla., also on appearing on Fox News Sunday, promised a tough fight on raising the debt ceiling, saying that the only way he would support such a measure was if there was also a discussion of "budgetary controls on the federal government, capping its spending. …"
