Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainAmerica's presence in Cam Ranh Bay should be more than occasional Meghan McCain, husband welcome first baby girl, Liberty Sage McCain Domenech The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by JobsOhio - Showdown: Trump-Biden debate likely to be nasty MORE (Ariz.), the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, on Wednesday ripped Tea Party lawmakers and other conservatives pushing to pass a balanced-budget amendment before raising the debt limit.

In a Senate floor speech, McCain said it is “foolish” and “deceiving” for Republican colleagues to claim a balanced-budget amendment has a chance of passing by next week.

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He read aloud a Wall Street Journal editorial depicting conservatives holding out for a constitutional amendment as living in a fantasy world, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, author of “The Hobbit,” might imagine.

Members of the Senate Tea Party Caucus including Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Mike Lee Michael (Mike) Shumway LeeSupreme Court nominee gives no clues in GOP meeting Barrett to sit with McConnell and other GOP senators in back-to-back meetings This week: Senate kicks off Supreme Court fight MORE (R-Utah) and Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulRon Paul hospitalized in Texas The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' Rand Paul says he can't judge 'guilt or innocence' in Breonna Taylor case MORE (R-Ky.) have continued to demand a balanced-budget amendment.

DeMint, Lee, Paul and Sen. David Vitter David Bruce VitterLysol, Charmin keep new consumer brand group lobbyist busy during pandemic Bottom line Bottom line MORE (R-La.) wrote a letter to colleagues Tuesday urging them to oppose a fallback plan drafted by House Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio) that would cut the deficit by $850 billion and require Congress to pass a $1.8 trillion deficit-reduction package before the election.

These lawmakers want colleagues to make another effort to pass the “Cut, Cap and Balance” act, which requires congressional passage of a balanced-budget amendment before raising the debt limit.

McCain said this goal is utterly unrealistic given Democratic control of the Senate. A balanced-budget amendment would need the support of 20 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus to pass.

“What is really amazing about this is that 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,” he said. “That is worse than foolish. That is deceiving many of our constituents.”

McCain said he supports a balanced-budget amendment and voted for one 13 times but thinks its unrealistic to demand one now with a potential national default only six days away.

He implied that conservative freshmen who think it’s possible to sway enough Democrats are naïve.

“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,” McCain said. “It’s unfair, it’s bizarre. And maybe some people [who] have only been in this body for six or seven months or so really believe it.”

McCain cited the Wall Street Journal’s editorial to back up his argument.

“The idea seems to be that if the House GOP refuses to raise the debt ceiling, a default crisis or gradual government shutdown will ensue, and the public will turn en masse against ... Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaIt's now up to health systems to solve our food problems Testing the Electoral College process against judicial overreach Obama steps into The Shade Room to urge 'roommates' to vote, says White House 'working to keep people from voting' MORE,” he said, quoting the paper. “The Republican House that failed to raise the debt ceiling would somehow escape all blame. Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the Tea Party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor.”

McCain warned that House Tea Party conservatives would give President Obama a major political victory by rejecting Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE’s plan to increase the debt limit.

Quoting the Journal again, McCain said: “If conservatives defeat the Boehner plan they will not only undermine their House majority, they will go far [toward] reelecting Mr. Obama and making entitlements that much harder to reform.”



