federal debt ceiling
Sorry for the double negative in the headline, but the Budget Control Act made me do it.
You remember the Budget Control Act? This is the law embodying the debt ceiling increase enacted this past August. This is the same law that created the anything-but-super committee that failed in November to agree on a deficit reduction plan.
The debt ceiling increase formally requested by the White House today is the third the Budget Control Act allows. The first occurred when the law was signed. The second went into effect in September when Congress failed to disapprove the request. Today's $1.2 trillion request is the third...and largest...the law allows.
Congress now has 15 days to consider and, if it can muster the votes, disapprove the request. That may happen in the House but almost certainly won't happen in the Senate. But even if the Senate went along, the president could/would/will veto the resolution and, because there isn't a two-thirds vote in either house to override the veto, the debt ceiling will be raised.
This excellent story by Nick Carey at Reuters about how the tea party folks are making life exceedingly difficult for House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is well worth a few minutes of your time.
Carey's story provides some important updates my post from March 22 about my experience speaking at the first meeting of the House tea party caucus. Here's what I concluded back then:
Over at The Caucus blog at the New York Times, Carl Hulse yesterday posted about a letter from Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Norm Dicks (D-WA) to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him "to explain the military impact of putting the government into default," that is, what would happen if Republicans in Congress refuse to increase the federal debt ceiling when it's reached later this year. Here's the money quote from Hulse's post:
More specifically, they asked the secretary what the effect would be on combat operations and military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq “if Congress were to fail to raise the debt limit and a government shutdown occurred.”
“Would the troops in the field be imperiled if we reached a point where for however long the Pentagon was unable to spend money?” they wrote.
This one is just too easy.
What's wrong with the polling question quoted below?
8. In order to have enough money for government spending, the Congress must soon vote to raise the country's debt limit from $7 trillion dollars to $9 trillion dollars. Which of the following is closer to your opinion on this? 1. In times of recession and war, we have no choice--we have to raise the debt limit to fund necessary government spending; or 2. Federal spending is out of control and we must take a stand now and not raise the debt limit. 3. (Combination, depends) 4. (Don't know)
If you love the congressional budget process (and, let's face it, who doesn't?) my column from today's Roll Call will make you very happy.
Two Perennial Issues in the Budget Process Are About to Bloom
Sept. 22, 2009
We are at the point when two perennially discussed budget process changes will start to be a big topic in Washington, D.C. In the coming weeks, Capitol Hill, pundits of all political stripes and some in the blogosphere will likely advocate two proposals: an automatic continuing resolution and eliminating the need for legislated increases in the federal debt ceiling.
