Chait thinks the members will "succeed by failing:"
Republicans needed a way to approve the debt ceiling without backing down from their avowed goal of reducing the deficit by a dollar for every dollar they hiked the debt ceiling. The supercommittee was supposed to lock in the lion's share of that deficit reduction. Now, suppose the parties can't agree on a fiscal adjustment — that is, Democrats insist on a balanced deal and Republicans insist on a cuts-only deal. Then we trigger some painful cuts neither party wants, and Congress then goes ahead and cancels them out. End result: we increased the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion, and only cut half as much from the budget. By the time this is clear, conservatives have long since turned their attention to other matters, and Boehner gets to keep his Speakership.
The Dish 