Debt ceiling fight holds reminders of 2011 — except maybe worse

The debt ceiling fight gripping Washington this month bears echoes of a similar clash in 2011, when a Democratic president squared off against a Republican House in a fight that dragged on for months, pushed the country to the brink of default and led to the first credit downgrade in U.S. history.

Except this time might be worse.

As President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) scramble to find common ground on legislation to hike the government’s borrowing cap, they’re operating in a much tougher environment than that faced by the top negotiators a dozen years ago, according to lawmakers, economists and political observers of all stripes. 

The country is more polarized, the sides have been more unyielding, a number of Republicans — including former President Trump — say they’re willing to allow a default to secure their objectives.

And McCarthy’s slim majority leaves him little room to maneuver within a conservative GOP conference that expects him to hold the line on spending cuts — or risk a challenge to his gavel.  

The combination has raised the odds of an unprecedented default and rattled some veterans of past debt ceiling fights, who say this is the most precarious of them all. 

"This is the first debt-ceiling situation that I felt was not going to be abated in time to protect our country,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), a 19-year veteran of Capitol Hill, said. “I've never seen...