This is like going from crazy to crazier. Threatening to shut down the government is like playing with fire. Threatening to default on our debt obligations is the economic equivalent of playing with nuclear weapons. For the cooler heads in the GOP, this has to be raising all sorts of alarm bells.

— Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), quoted by the Washington Post, on using the debt limit to force the defunding of Obamacare.

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