McCain: tea-party 'foolish' on balanced budget

Veteran Sen. John McCain has had enough with tea-party-aligned lawmakers who have vowed not to vote to raise the debt ceiling before passage of a constitutional balanced budget amendment.

The Arizona Republican, the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee, described their position as “foolish,” “deceiving, even bizarro,” given Americans’ anxiety about the sliding stock market, a halt on hiring and the possibility of higher interest rates related to the looming default.

“What is really amazing about this is that some, some members are believing that we can pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution in this body with its present representation, and that is foolish. That is worse than foolish — that is deceiving. …” McCain said on the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon.

“That is not fair to the American people, to hold out and say we won’t agree to raising the debt limit until we pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. It’s unfair, it’s bizarro. And maybe some people have only been in this body for six or seven months or so really believe that. Others know better. Others know better.”

McCain said he “takes a back seat to no one” when it comes to backing a constitutional amendment requiring the government to balance its books; he voted for one 13 times.

But McCain noted that mathematically there simply aren’t the 67 votes needed to pass an amendment in the Democratic-controlled Senate. And he took issue with tea-party members in the House and Senate who have denounced a debt-limit plan by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) because it doesn’t require passage of an amendment before raising the nation’s $14.3 trillion legal borrowing limit.

McCain didn’t name names, but Sen. David Vitter (La.) and the three co-founders of the Senate tea party caucus – Jim DeMint (S.C.) and freshmen Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah) – penned a letter Tuesday voicing their opposition to the Boehner plan. McCain’s close friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), also opposes the Boehner plan. And a group of conservative House lawmakers, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), has given Boehner fits this week as they’ve worked to defeat his legislation.

McCain also took shots at Democrats, dismissing a debt plan by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as “full of smoke and mirrors” and hitting his former 2008 nemesis, President Barack Obama, for “lead[ing] from behind.”