Sen. McConnell casts correct vote on debt ceiling

Mitch McConnell isn’t one of my favorite U.S. senators.

However, the Kentucky Republican cast a vote that might get him in trouble with an even more annoying bunch of politicians … the folks who comprise the tea party wing of the GOP.

You go, Sen. McConnell.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/mitch-mcconnell-debt-ceiling-103564.html?hp=l1

McConnell voted to approve an increase in the national debt ceiling, enabling the government to borrow more money to pay its bills. To do otherwise, said the Senate minority leader, would be to bring on catastrophe.

He voted to “protect” the country, he said.

That won’t go down well with tea party activists back home in Kentucky, where he’s facing a GOP primary challenge and a possibly stern challenge from the Democrats this fall — if he survives the primary battle.

McConnell was forced to cast the vote after Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, forced his hand in a procedural motion on the Senate floor. McConnell had hoped to approve the debt ceiling increase without having to have his name displayed so prominently. Cruz would have none of it.

I’m betting now that McConnell and the Cruz Missile aren’t exactly the best of friends.

McConnell leaned toward his good-government instincts in voting to approve the debt limit without attaching any spending-reduction strings.

“We were confronted with a clean debt ceiling in the Senate or default. I believe I have to act in the best interests of the country, and every time we’ve been confronted with a potential crisis, the guy you’re looking at is the one who stepped up to solve the problem,” McConnell told reporters.

The alternative, defaulting on our obligations, was a non-starter.

McConnell deserves thanks, not condemnation.