After offering their disgraceful plan to raise the debt ceiling for a full year at the GOP conference meeting, House leaders challenged conservatives to come up with their own plan.  It’s like a group of capricious leaders in a beleaguered village who break all of their weapons and urge the residents to surrender because there is no alternative.

Indeed, there is no alternative.  Over the past few months, Boehner and the boys have spoken so passionately in favor of raising the debt ceiling, echoing Obama’s ridiculous talking points about defaulting on debt.  We have no leverage anymore.  And we never will as long as we have leaders who sabotage our leverage and telegraph weakness to the Democrats.

As we’ve noted before, what is even more egregious about the impending bill is that it will repeal the cuts to military pensions, thereby forcing members to either vote to increase the debt or vote against veterans.  They plan to “pay for” the increase with sequester cuts in….2024! Never mind that Ryan-Murray already set the precedent to abolish the sequester long before that.

To add insult to injury, leadership plans to continue their streak of voting on the worst bills less than 72 hours after posting the bill online, even though there is no need to pass the bill this week (even according to their convoluted logic).

So what should leadership do at this point?

They should man up and just put a clean debt ceiling bill on the floor.  In fact, they should grow a pair and abolish the debt ceiling altogether.  They have already done that by preemptively declaring a need to raise the debt ceiling every time we reach it.  They should just consummate their actions in public – and own it.

What should conservatives do?  What is the conservative debt ceiling plan?

At this point the only plan for the debt ceiling is the same as the plan for everything else.  We must #FireBoehner immediately.  Unless we install a new leader who will actually go on offense, Democrats will never fear us and we will never have any leverage.

Republicans should raise the debt ceiling for one month – just enough time to vote for a new Speaker – and make it clear to the Democrats that this is the last free ride.

The debt ceiling is the law of the land just as much as Obamacare is the law of the land.  We need a new leader who will fight for that law as assiduously as Democrats fight to protect Obamacare.