It’s fun to watch Washington’s varied institutions come to grips with the “platinum coin” solution. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, only now, is attempting to shame Democrats for not pre-condemning the idea; they send around a statement they’re trying to place in Lousiana, home to Sen. Mary Landrieu, who’s up in 2014.
“Over the last four years, Senator Landrieu has stood side-by-side with President Obama and voted in lockstep for all of his big government programs that are bankrupting our country,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Brian Walsh said today. “So Louisianans deserve to know exactly where their senior Senator stands today – does Landrieu believe that minting magic coins is the answer to solving our country’s fiscal problems or will she finally acknowledge that reckless Washington spending is the real issue?”
Seems like the wrong way to ask the question. Do Senate Democrats plan to vote for Rep. Greg Walden’s “Stop the Coin Act,” which will be introduced next week? That’s the only way the current statute allowing the magical platinum end-run can be repealed. They need to drive a wedge between Democrats, because as of now – in the form of an open letter to the president – the party’s leadership is fully behind the administration’s “we won’t negotiate but won’t say what the alternative is” position. This week, incredibly, that position has become the de facto Coinmentum position.
