Debt Ceiling Thoughts

After reading this, I'm wondering about something.  Historically, Congress has passed debt ceiling increases with little fanfare.  To be sure, the minority party usually votes symbolically against the debt ceiling, just as they vote for it when in power.  Even though the Congress is divided between the Republicans in House and the Democrats in the Senate, it shouldn't have mattered. 

And yet, this year for the first time, the Republicans have decided to hold the debt ceiling hostage to policies they want to see passed.  Hostage may seem like a strong word, but how else do you describe it?  All of sudden, after numerous negotiation attempts have broken down because the Republcians have flat-out refused to increase revenue (even by changing the deprication chart for private jets to be in line with commercial jets), the ability of United States to pay its bills is suddenly in doubt.

Standard & Poor has now said that it's not good enough that the United States pass a debt ceiling vote-Congress has to show that it can work together in the future.  The impact of a possible downgrade in America's rating is that it will be more costly to borrow money in the future, not just for the United States, but also for many states, and perhaps even municipalities.  As Ezra Klein notes, "So S&P is literally saying that America is not acting like a country that deserves a AAA-credit rating. Nice job, Congress." 

Except, of course, it's not the "Congress" but the Republicans that are causing this.

Let's see; something that unncessarily costs the United States a tremendous amount of money, out of political spite.

How do you not use the word treason?  A strong word that Democrats, to their credit, have not used, but consider how often the Republicans tossed it around after 9/11 against any doubters.  If they can toss it around so blithely against people who simply disagreed with their policies, can we not use the word when there is actual harm to the United States?