Hey, Lame-Duck Congress! How About Ending The Stupid Debt Limit While You Still Can?

Congress never listens to us.

The best thing about the midterms is that Democrats will maintain control of the US Senate. But as of right now, with votes still waiting to be counted, it's looking pretty likely that Republicans will win control of the House of Representatives. So in the couple of months (less really, with holiday breaks) that Democrats have both Houses, they could manage one really huge win for America:  Use the budget reconciliation process to raise the federal debt ceiling so incredibly high that it won't be an issue again, ever. Or even better, eliminate the debt ceiling altogether.

Under the weird rules governing the reconciliation process, budget related bills can be passed with a simple majority in the Senate, without Senate Republicans being able to filibuster. Taking the debt ceiling off the table would thwart already-announced GOP plans to use the debt ceiling as a lever to force big budget cuts, possibly including dangerous changes to Medicare and Social Security, like raising the retirement age, cutting benefits, or partially privatizing one or both programs. They've already said that's what they'll do if they take over the House. Out loud, with their mouths and everything .

Read More:

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So as David Dayen suggests at The American Prospect, Democrats should nip that in the bud before Republicans can hold the nation's economy hostage in an attempt to force deep spending cuts. Reconciliation could be accomplished in just a few weeks, and there's no good reason to let Republicans go ahead and create the chaos that they have already promised.

Let's quickly review what that "debt ceiling" thing is, anyway:  It's areally stupid law dating back to World War I, requiring Congress to authorize any increase in the amount of debt the US government takes on to pay for spending it has already authorized. That last bit is super-important, because Republicans lie all the time about what raising the debt ceiling means. Again, it only involves authorizing the government to pay debts it already has. 

  Not raising the debt ceiling won't reduce the national debt, balance the budget, or limit federal spending. Failure to raise the debt ceiling only means the US would default on payments it already owes, which would cause a banking panic, lower the US's bond rating, and almost certainly cause a recession, not just in the US but worldwide. And once we've defaulted, we'd still owe every penny we did already — and because of our now-crappy credit rating, we'd need to pay even higher interest rates to pay those debts.

Last December, through a fairly ridiculous process, Republicans graciously allowed Democrats to raise the debt limit, preventing any worries about default until sometime in the spring of 2023. As Dayen points out, reconciliation has been used to raise the debt limit four times since the 1980s. It's the solution that Mitch McConnell tried to force Democrats to use last year, in fact, although the old turtle may not be happy about it this time. Tough.

Instead of sitting back and letting a debt crisis arrive, Congress should use reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling well ahead of the expiration of the current limit. But this time, Dayen says, how about setting the upper limit so high that the debt ceiling would simply never be an issue again? In the excerpt below, "Graham's number" is a weird math thing: an astronomically high number that's so large the known universe couldn't contain a digital representation of it. It's really big, and has nothing to do with Sen. Lindsey Graham, even if you think someone has his number.

Here’s how it would work: Democrats would have to pass a 2023 budget resolution, with instructions to committees for reconciliation. These could include raising the debt limit to $5 quadrillion or $100 quintillion or Graham’s number, for a simple example. Then, the Senate could automatically discharge that reconciliation bill from committee, and set up the familiar “vote-a-rama,” where senators can vote on really anything in an all-night session. The House has an even quicker process, mainly about 20 hours of debate.

This would take up about two weeks, leaving enough time left over to take care of whatever else Congress wants or needs to take care of in the lame duck. Of course, it would have to work around Sen. Raphael Warnock’s schedule, as he campaigns in the December 6 runoff in Georgia. But it’s very possible, and according to Democratic aides in Congress and the White House , it’s on the table.

And just like that, the debt limit, a terrible law anyway, would cease to be an issue ever again. As Dayen notes, in a functioning government, this sort of maneuver wouldn't be necessary at all. But we haven't had one of those in ages.

[ American Prospect / Image created using Stable Diffusion AI ]

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