Politics-fueled disputes are nothing new in Trump and post-Trump America. However, the current issue concerning the US debt limit has caused significant—and unnecessary—headaches. The media have called it a game of chicken, but on the face of it, it seems more than that. It is partisan warfare for power.

With Republicans in control of the House and Democrats in control of the Senate, much has been written about the House Republicans’ hostage-taking of the national debt limit. Only one day into this situation, the Dow Jones stock market in the United States has already reacted negatively. The outcome is uncertain because politics drives the dispute over the national debt more than economics. House Republicans hope to use the new debt raised by the US Treasury to satisfy their desire to cut spending in return for the needed debt limit increase. While various Treasury strategies can keep things going until around June, it looks like there is a severe battle between the House majority, the Democrat-led Senate, and the Presidency. 

Votes to raise the debt ceiling between the 1980s and 2022 were mere formalities until 2011, when Republicans first used the limit with a threat of a US default on its debt obligations. This forced Barack Obama to negotiate, with both parties agreeing to government spending caps. Unfortunately, these were often ignored and abandoned by the Republican Congress in 2018, with the debt limit waived three times under Donald Trump. 

The Republican House has once again ridden into battle over the debt limit. They have issued a warning that they will refuse to vote for an increase in the debt ceiling unless huge pending cuts are made. If there is no agreement, the effects of the government defaulting on its debt would be tremendous. If it can’t borrow to pay for spending that Congress has already approved, it will have to postpone things like social security and federal employee salaries. The Treasury Secretary also said that if the government didn’t pay its debts, it “would do irreparable damage to the U.S. economy, the lives of all Americans, and the stability of the world’s financial system.” 

If the situation cannot be resolved by practical cooperation between both parties in the House, with the new Speaker seemingly keen to carry out his threat, in that case, the summer could erupt into global financial chaos. Time will show whether, in their desire for power, Republicans will be prepared to go all the way and plunge their economy and the planet into decline.