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Nelson: Republicans will suffer in 2012 for debt-limit stalemate
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) predicted Republicans will be hurt at the polls next year because of the debt ceiling fight.
Nelson, who is up for reelection himself next year, said voters are getting fed up with ideological politics and blamed conservatives for holding up a deal.
Nelson noted that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had to change his debt plan at the last moment to secure backing from Tea Party conservatives in the House. An earlier version of the bill didn’t come up for a vote Thursday, as planned, because of GOP defections.
Nelson noted that conservatives had a huge election in 2010 in which they took back the House majority and won gains in the Senate.
“But elections have consequences, and that’s what we’re seeing now, and I think you’ll see the pendulum’s coming back to the center and you’ll see an opposite reaction next election,” Nelson said.
The Florida Democrat also predicted that the Senate will move to a final vote on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) debt ceiling plan.
Reid hopes to convince at least seven Republicans to support his measure to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion in a vote that could take place at 1 a.m. Sunday, but will be tough given opposition from his counterpart, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“I think tomorrow night it will all come together,” Nelson said. “I think Harry Reid will be able to get the additional Republican senators so we tat we can break the filibuster.
“Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning, I think we will get the votes and then send a package that is bipartisan back over to the House, and at that point Boehner, the Speaker is going to have to get sufficient votes from his own party to match with the Democratic votes and then that will solve the problem."
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