.MaddowBlog: The conventional wisdom is that Republicans, unlike their earlier debt-ceiling crises, haven't yet presented Democrats with a ransom note. That's not true.
To my surprise, I heard from Dave Vasquez, the Texas senator's press secretary, who took issue with a different part of my post. Vasquez argued via an email that Cruz's point was that Democrats"are 100% capable of raising the debt ceiling through the reconciliation process without a single Republican vote — a process that can't be filibustered.
This is surprisingly constructive, largely because it helps explain the nature of the elusive ransom note. They've also said they'll block the bill with a filibuster anyway. It's why I characterized the GOP's position as foolish: Republicans are telling Democrats to extend the debt ceiling while simultaneously preventing Democrats from voting on a bill that would extend the debt ceiling.
Or put another way, Senate Republicans have prepared instructions on how to release the hostage: Democrats must, add a debt-ceiling increase to their Build Back Better legislation, and then pass the revised package through the budget reconciliation process, which the GOP cannot block with a filibuster.
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