Republicans Never Learn: The Debt Ceiling

Hey, Reader, did I ever tell you about the time I had breakfast with Newt Gingrich? Well, actually, I didn’t eat anything so I’m not sure it really counts as breakfast. But it was in the suite of the Speaker of the House, and there was a tray full of Egg McMuffins (House Majority Leader Dick Armey was the only one eating), so perhaps it does qualify. It was a Saturday morning and Armey kept reminding us that he would much rather be back in Texas fishing. It was in the fall of 1995 and a newly elected Republican Speaker of the House and a Democratic President in the third year of his term were locked in a battle over the national debt (sound familiar?). Mr. Gingrich was trying to make political hay by refusing to enact legislation raising the federal debt limit. Robert Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury, was doing his best to keep the United States from defaulting on its obligations without violating the statutory limit on his authority to borrow. And me? I was the lead GAO (then called the General Accounting Office) attorney monitoring Mr. Rubin’s battle to keep the ship of state afloat. We had been summoned to the Speaker’s lair on that Egg McMuffin morning to report to Mr. Gingrich whether Secretary Rubin had violated the law.

So, you may ask, why is the Maven having these daydreams of former glory? Well, it’s the article in yesterday’s Times-Dispatch entitled “GOP lawmakers balk at raising debt ceiling.” The Associated Press article begins with “Some Republican lawmakers said Sunday they oppose raising the ceiling on the nation’s debt without tackling government spending.” Later in the article is the following paragraph:

“To some conservatives, refusing to raise the limit on the federal debt could be an effective tactic to force lawmakers to cut spending and face such contentious issues as the rising costs of Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs.”

The article also indicates that Representative Michele Bachman, Republican from Minnesota, is asking people to sign an online petition urging their representatives not to increase the debt limit. And finally, Representative Mike Kelly, Republican from Pennsylvania, a car dealer elected in November, is quoted as saying “Raising the debt ceiling, to me, is absolutely irresponsible.”

Trusted reader, does all this sound familiar to you? Hasn’t it been only eleven months since this maven pointed out to the world that all this ranting about raising the debt ceiling is merely a Republican tempest in a teapot? The Debt Ceiling And The Republican Hypocrisy I see no reason to bore you with the details, again, so let me just point out:

1. The annual budget deficit is the difference between funds that have been dispersed from the Treasury (under authority contained in appropriations) and revenues that have been deposited in the Treasury.
2. The national debt is the accumulation of all the annual budget deficits.
3. The national debt can be decreased only by a reduction in Federal spending and an increase in Federal revenues.
4. The debt ceiling is the statutory limit on the amount that the Secretary of the Treasury can borrow to satisfy the obligations of the United States.
5. Congressional refusal to raise the debt ceiling will have no effect on the national debt.
6. Allowing the United States to default on its obligations by refusing to raise the debt ceiling would produce an international economic disaster of unprecedented proportions.

So, beloved reader, contrary to the nonsense spewed by Republican representatives like Mike and Michele, refusing to raise the debt ceiling and thus forcing the United States to default on its obligations is the most irresponsible action that a member of the Congress can propose. If the Republican controlled House of Representatives is going to tackle the problem of the national debt, as its leaders promised before the election, it needs to get down to the serious task of bringing revenue and expenditures into balance. It needs to stop its propaganda and get down to governing.