The NY Times had a recent editorial about the debt limit that includes several of the myths mentioned above. It’s otherwise unremarkable save for the link to the NYT Editorial from 1961 admonishing Congress and the Kennedy administration for waiting until the last minute (the day before) to raise the debt ceiling and lamenting that over the “last eight years” (i.e. 1953 – 1961) members of Congress have apparently been trying to use the debt limit to restrain spending.
It's a terrible idea for so many reasons, including its assault on divided powers, but it's also not an effective solution. The coin would be highly inflationary in practice and cause more economic harm than it avoids.
Great point on the raising of the debt ceiling NOT being for money already spent. In government budgets there is an Appropriation and Authorization. But in government accounting there are stages to execution of that budget (money)- Commitment, Obligation, and Accrued Expenditure Unpaid/Paid. Raising the debt ceiling is quite literally to pay for obligations not yet fully executed (spent). Never thought of it this way!!!
Thank you, Mr. Amash for your very succinct discussion of the Tomfoolery of the gators in the swamp! I just fully subscribed because I value your wisdom, now and in the past during your time in Congress. The seemingly annual divided congress “Debt Showdown at High Noon” has always been about circus and clowns, rather than responsible legislating.
"This is a separate power from appropriations and requires a separate authorization; approval can’t be implied from the adoption of a budget resolution or enactment of a spending bill."
What's your take on the Gephardt Rule? Is it valid to "deem" that the debt ceiling has been raised when a joint budget resolution is adopted if that rule is in effect?
It's constitutionally dubious to pass a joint resolution in this manner, but even if it were lawful, the point of the rule is to reduce accountability, so I'd strongly oppose it.
The NY Times had a recent editorial about the debt limit that includes several of the myths mentioned above. It’s otherwise unremarkable save for the link to the NYT Editorial from 1961 admonishing Congress and the Kennedy administration for waiting until the last minute (the day before) to raise the debt ceiling and lamenting that over the “last eight years” (i.e. 1953 – 1961) members of Congress have apparently been trying to use the debt limit to restrain spending.
Same as it ever was.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/opinion/biden-republicans-debt-ceiling.html
https://static01.nyt.com/packages/pdf/opinion/editorial/1961Editorial.pdf
The Gray Rag Lady. “All the News That’s Print to Fit.”
Too much clear headed analysis of the debt ceiling by Justin. Because of this Substack I no longer can decide who to hate.
Can you address the "mint the coin" option? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillion-dollar_coin
It's a terrible idea for so many reasons, including its assault on divided powers, but it's also not an effective solution. The coin would be highly inflationary in practice and cause more economic harm than it avoids.
Great point on the raising of the debt ceiling NOT being for money already spent. In government budgets there is an Appropriation and Authorization. But in government accounting there are stages to execution of that budget (money)- Commitment, Obligation, and Accrued Expenditure Unpaid/Paid. Raising the debt ceiling is quite literally to pay for obligations not yet fully executed (spent). Never thought of it this way!!!
Thank you, Mr. Amash for your very succinct discussion of the Tomfoolery of the gators in the swamp! I just fully subscribed because I value your wisdom, now and in the past during your time in Congress. The seemingly annual divided congress “Debt Showdown at High Noon” has always been about circus and clowns, rather than responsible legislating.
"This is a separate power from appropriations and requires a separate authorization; approval can’t be implied from the adoption of a budget resolution or enactment of a spending bill."
What's your take on the Gephardt Rule? Is it valid to "deem" that the debt ceiling has been raised when a joint budget resolution is adopted if that rule is in effect?
https://www.congressionalinstitute.org/2022/12/14/the-gephardt-rule-does-it-take-the-political-sting-out-of-the-debt-limit/
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/05/how-dick-gephardt-fixed-the-debt-ceiling-problem/238571/
It's constitutionally dubious to pass a joint resolution in this manner, but even if it were lawful, the point of the rule is to reduce accountability, so I'd strongly oppose it.