So now the Tea Party is saying, “Okay, we won’t threaten to shut down the U.S. Government and all its services.  Instead, we’ll put a gun to our head again to force Democrats to give us what we want or we’ll let the United States of America default on its debts.” What they’re talking about now is the federal debt ceiling.  Republican talking points try to argue that the debt ceiling is a matter of cutting out-of-control spending and decreasing the “debt burden.”