Of course there should be no debt ceiling. The US is the only nation to have one for absolute amounts of money (some other nations have ones tied to percents of budgets, and so forth). Even thought it is nonsensical and absurd, it has been around for over a century, a recrudescence of a deal to get funding approved by Congress for WW I in the wake of the passage in 1913 of the new amendment allowing a federal income tax. Somehow nobody in Congress or any White House has the guts to push for the ending of this thing, so it hangs on like some stinking zombie.
Of course, for most of the time since it was passed, Congresses have been "responsible" and raised the ceiling without too much fuss, although it has been normal when different parties occupy the White House and the Congress for there to be some grumbling by people in Congress before they do the the responsible thing. But in recent decades, while Dems in Congress have been responsible, raising debt ceiling several times for President Trump, we have on several occasions see GOPs in Congress make big stinks and force temporary government shutdowns while making demands for this or that.
The current situation is probably not that bad, but absurdity is definitely reigning. Assuming they can keep all their people in line, especially Sen. Manchin of WV, it can probably be raised by reconciliation. But GOP Sen. McConnell is loudly declaring no GOP will support raising it, and has threatened a filibuster, although reconciliation can get around that, if all Dems agree. However, even as he is loudly declaring not GOP support for raising the debt ceiling, he is also demanding that it be raised so that government bills get paid. I really have no comment on this further, aside from noting that this is just further evidence on why this silly thing needs to be done away with once and for all.
Barkley Rosser
Unfortunately, Congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations.”
ReplyDelete— President Ronald Reagan, Sept. 26, 1987
in yesteryear there was the Gephart rule were it was raised as part of the budget process...
The Gephart rule was reasonable. But the best would be to simply end it permanently. It serves no useful purpose, and it is too easy to change it from something harmless when there is something like the Gephhart rule in place to something that is not, like we have now.
ReplyDeleteRead that the debt ceiling concept was put in place to place a check on Wilson for WW1 due to isolationist concerns that excessive bond sales would take place and support the war efforts and expansion. Agree - it's time has passed.
ReplyDelete