House Boosts Debt Limit

The political theater continues in Washington.  The House Republicans passed, 217-215, a bill increasing the debt limit – but only if President Biden negotiates spending cuts..

The measure would raise the debt ceiling into next year but freeze federal spending at last year's levels for a decade.  That's nearly a 14% cut.  It would also roll back parts of Bidens health, climate and tax law, impose work requirements on social programs, and expand mining and fossil fuel production.

The Senate won't pass such a measure, but even if it did, Biden would veto it.  

Both sides are gambling that the other will blink before the Treasury runs out of "extraordinary measures" to pay the nation's bills. That could occur as early as this summer, in which case the government would default on its debt.  Experts say that would lead to catastrophic financial and economic consequences.

Comment: Actually, both sides are correct.  The nation cannot fail to pay its debts, as Biden and the Democrats say.  At the same time, the practice of Congress ever since the George W. Bush presidency to increase spending at the same time it cuts tax has put the country in a perilous situation.  Spending needs to be reined in.