“The reality, of course, is that every U.S. president — including the ones most devoted to democracy and human rights — realized that there were some relationships that were just too strategically important to hold hostage to concerns about democratic values.”

Shortly after, he used his veto power to hold hostage a $120 billion European aid package for Ukraine — as he wrangled for the release of E.U. funds for Hungary that have been frozen over rule-of-law concerns.

If Republicans continue to hold hostage the nation’s full faith and credit, the parties will have to spend months figuring out which subpar off-ramp to take.

That has not stopped Republicans like Ms. Greene, who successfully pressured Mr. McCarthy to hold hostage last year’s defense bill until Democrats accepted a demand — strenuously opposed by the White House and the Pentagon — that it end the coronavirus vaccine mandate for members of the military.

President Biden sharply rebuked House Republicans on Thursday for trying to slash seniors’ retirement benefits and hold hostage the nation’s finances, stressing that the new majority’s agenda — and its staunch demands for spending cuts — threatened to plunge the United States into an economic crisis.