By Ben Ritz, Director of PPI’s Center for Funding America’s Future
It took Representative Kevin McCarthy 15 ballots to be elected House speaker last week — the longest such contest since before the Civil War. Now McCarthy’s concessions to the far right in that process will leave him as the weakest speaker in generations and likely lead to the most dangerous game of budget brinkmanship in Washington since 2011. Leaders across both parties must work quickly to avoid an unprecedented debt default disaster.