Experts argue the debt limit has far outlived its usefulness. Nightly reports 👇
The U.S. Capitol on Monday evening as negotiators for President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy met on the impasse over the government's debt ceiling. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo, sink the three pointer at the buzzer — pick your favorite sports cliche — and avoid a catastrophic default with a last-minute deal to lift the debt limit. Because we usually do.The result, assuming negotiators hammer out an agreement by early next week, will be nothing but a desultory tie, leaving the U.S.
Because the debt limit, born of a World War I desire to not require a congressional vote every time Treasury needed to issue debt, has far outlived its usefulness. In the modern era, it has become a partisan weapon of mass destruction.but only allows Treasury to issue debt to cover money already spent by Congress, became fully weaponized following the Tea Party movement that drove the GOP into Hill control in the second half of President Barack Obama’s first term.
Prior to that, it had been mostly a snoozer of a vote, lifted scores of times with little ruckus, to do things like cover the costs of World War II.after then-Rep. Richard Gephardt who introduced it. That measure automatically lifted the debt limit to cover any spending already approved by the legislature. And the ensuing Era of Good Feelings saw 15 hikes with limited drama. The rule was repealed in 2011.
And it led directly to the “Fiscal Cliff” drama of late 2012 that required a New Year’s Day 2013 vote in Congress to avoid a giant fiscal constriction in the form of lower spending and higher taxes.Republicans mostly rolled over for debt limit increases in part to cover deficits increased by Trump’s corporate and individual tax cuts.
None of this suggests the U.S. is on a sustainable spending path or that long term debt isn’t a problem., given continuing strong demand for U.S. debt and the size and power of the nation’s economy. But it’s the responsibility of Congress and the White House to agree on any long term changes to entitlements or other spending that reduce the size of the debt as a share of the nation’s economy. And to do it without the gun-to-the-head debt limit.
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