DANGEROUS, IDIOTIC DEBT CEILING RITUAL REACHING A CONCLUSION
WASHINGTON — The tiresome, pointless and dangerous exercise of flirting with the debt ceiling is the most idiotic ritual our elected leaders in Washington regularly perform. It’s like running with the bulls in Pamplona — but without the adrenaline rush, and with graver consequences for a false step.
The 2023 production of this melodrama appears to be nearing its finale. On Saturday, President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, reached an agreement “in principle” that it would be better, on balance, not to crash the global economy and rob the nation of trillions of dollars in wealth. I’ll go out on a limb and say that most Americans would agree.
Now, like a washing machine toward the end of its cycle, we have shifted into the spin phase. House Republicans who support the deal McCarthy negotiated on their behalf crowed Sunday that they made out like bandits. The deal is a “remarkable conservative achievement” that provides “no wins for Democrats,” Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, said on CNN. “Overwhelmingly, Republicans in this conference are going to support the deal. How could they not? It is a fantastic deal.”
The initial reaction from Democrats, by contrast, ranged from caution to skepticism. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, said that “there will be Democratic support … but I’m not going to predict what those numbers may ultimately look like.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she did not yet know if she will vote for the deal, blasting its strengthened work requirements for food stamp recipients as “absolutely terrible policy.” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Connecticut, said he is “tempted to say” that he is a “no.”
In keeping with the rules of post-negotiation spin, all of this probably means the opposite of what it purports to say. Based on what we’ve learned about the Biden-McCarthy agreement so far, it looks to me as though Republicans got relatively less of what they wanted, while Democrats got relatively more.
The biggest win of all, for the nation, is that apparently we get a near two-year respite from this ridiculous game. Congress or the president should use that time to eliminate the debt ceiling once and for all.
At issue, remember, is whether the U.S. government will honor the debts and spending commitments Congress has already made. It would be an unmitigated catastrophe if the world’s greatest economic power, issuer of the world’s most widely used and trusted reserve currency, were to turn deadbeat and fail to pay its bills. Debating whether Biden or McCarthy deserved most of the blame would be irrelevant. Interest rates would soar, and retirement accounts plummet, for Republicans and Democrats alike.
I’m all for a debate on how to address the nation’s $31.46 trillion debt — a rational debate, considering both spending and revenue. This should take place, however, during the budget and appropriations processes, which I dimly remember from the days when Congress was functional. It makes absolutely no sense to try to implement sensible, effective, long-term policies under a sky-is-falling deadline.
So far, no Congress or president has been reckless enough to let the sky actually fall. Even Donald Trump, when he was president, scoffed at the idea of using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip. In his town hall on CNN, Trump urged Republicans to pull the pin on the default grenade — “You might as well do it now, because you’ll do it later,” he said — but I took his words as nothing but bluster for the MAGA base. It should be noted that the debt grew by a whopping $7.8 trillion during Trump’s four years in office.
Assuming the deal that Biden and McCarthy worked out makes it through both chambers of Congress and is signed into law, there will be some painful but survivable timelimited cuts to “discretionary” spending — the kind that actually helps people. Work requirements for food-stamp recipients, which now end at age 50, will be extended to age 54. The permitting process for energy projects, “dirty” and clean alike, will be shortened. Defense spending will rise, as it always does. And we will not have to revisit the debt ceiling question for nearly two years.
I have an idea: How about never? Does never work for you?
Democrats should have tried to do away with the debt ceiling when they controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress. After this agreement is signed and sealed, Biden should look for a way to have the Supreme Court decide whether the 14th Amendment makes the debt ceiling unconstitutional, as some legal scholars believe.
Reasonable people need to stop the madness. One of these times, unreasonable people will miscalculate — and deal the nation a crippling self-inflicted blow.