McCain Believes Congress Will Pass Debt Deal Today, "Because There is No Alternative"

As Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, spoke with Imus on the phone this morning, he kept one eye on the television, where the Fox Business Network showed Dow futures up 157 points. “I think if we had not reached an agreement, you would have seen that arrow in the opposite direction,” McCain said. “And pretty steeply so.”
 
The agreement in question is the one Republicans, Democrats, and President Obama struck last night to raise the debt ceiling, cut spending, and reduce the deficit. Congress is scheduled to vote today on the deal, which McCain thinks will pass, if not easily.
 
“There are things both sides don’t like,” he cautioned. “I kind of get the impression that the Left likes it less than the Right, but I also know there are some members in the House and Senate on the Republican side demanding the passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution through the Congress, and that’s just not realistic.”
 
Passing a balanced budget amendment, McCain explained, would require 20 Democrats to vote in favor of it, and those votes simply don’t exist. “I think we can have it enacted over time,” he said. “But to demand it be part of this deal is, frankly, not a realistic approach.”
 
Like the cowboys at The Imus Ranch, Imus isn’t following the minutiae of the debt ceiling debate very closely, but was happy to hear that a deal was reached last night. That is, until Neil Cavuto shattered that illusion shortly after six o’clock this morning, when he pointed out that it could very easily unravel today in Congress.
 
“It’s very unlikely,” McCain assured Imus. “Because there is no other alternative.”
 
With Tuesday’s default deadline approaching, McCain admitted there are aspects of the agreement he’s not thrilled with, like a “triggering mechanism” that could cut too much out of the defense budget. But at this late hour, prudence plays a pivotal role. “There’s some things not to like, there are other things to like,” McCain said. “And at least we have resolved an impasse for a period of time.”
 
Besides, he added, “at least in this deal, you are cutting the budget more than you are increasing the debt limit.”
 
McCain caught some heat last week for reading on the Senate floor an editorial in the Wall Street Journal that called Tea Partiers “hobbits.” He clarified that sentiment today, telling Imus that he had been referring to the Tea Party’s impractical demands.
 
“The hobbit is an unreal creature, and it is unreal to say that they can pass a balanced budget amendment through the Senate as it is presently constituted,” he said. “I thought it was unfair to tell people that that can happen.”
 
Part of the agreement includes an “up-and-down” vote on adding a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, something McCain would ultimately like to see enacted. “I take a backseat to no one on being a fiscal conservative,” he said, then touted his record of voting against the Bush tax cuts and various pork-laden appropriations bills.
 
Regardless of McCain’s rational behavior, Imus still lodged one complaint: ABBA’s “Take A Chance on Me” is one of the Senator’s five favorite songs?
 
-Julie Kanfer