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1/22/13, "GOP 'Suspends' Constitution in Debt Fight," Breitbart, Mike Flynn
"In legislation filed yesterday,
the House GOP Leadership made an important twist in their plan to pass a
short-term increase in the debt ceiling. Rather than increase the debt
ceiling by a few hundred billion dollars, buying them time for further
talks on the budget, they have opted to "suspend" the debt ceiling. Its a
blatant abdication of their constitutional authority. It's an ominous
sign of the talks to come.
Article 1 of the US Constitution gives Congress the exclusive
authority to borrow money to fund the government. Up until World War I,
Congress would approve every bond issuance. The borrowing demands of the
war made this impractical, so Congress authorized a "debt ceiling,"
where the government could freely borrow up to a statutory limit and
then go back to Congress to approve additional borrowing. Think of it as
giving your teenager a pre-paid debit card.
With this measure, the government had more flexibility to manage its
affairs while preserving the Constitutional principle that Congress
controlled the purse strings.
"Suspending" the debt ceiling until May upends this principle. Upon
enactment, the government's borrowing authority would be unlimited until
May. Presumably, the government could borrow trillions in this window,
providing either the markets or the Fed would meet the new supply of
debt.
Worse, however, is that the GOP move establishes a very slippery
precedent. The left has been agitating to simply eliminate the idea of a
debt ceiling entirely. For all its flaws, the ceiling at least
guarantees we will have some debate about government spending. The left
finds this annoying.
Unfortunately, the GOP plan to "suspend" the
ceiling provides at least partial support to this argument. If we can
"suspend" it for three months, why not a year? Once you've surrendered
the constitutional principle behind the ceiling where and how can you
draw a line?
Despite their past history of punting on difficult fiscal issues, I
was willing to give the House GOP a skeptical benefit of the doubt on
their plan for a short-term lift in the ceiling. The deficit debate has
three components, ie. debt ceiling, sequestration, and budget
expiration, which happen close to each other, but not simultaneously. It
made some strategic sense to weave them together into a single debate.
I assumed, however, that this would entail an increase in the debt
ceiling of a few hundred billion dollars, to provide the time to
negotiate a longer-term deal. I did not anticipate it would feature the
House GOP surrendering its constitutional obligations.
When the GOP took control of the House,* they vowed that every piece of
legislation would contain specific language citing the constitutional
authority for the proposed law. It would be interesting to see their
interpretation of the constitutional authority to suspend the document. "
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*Ed. note: The GOP didn't exactly "take control of the House." In the Nov. 2010 elections we gave them a big crowd of new people. They didn't want most of the people we gave them and did their best to silence them. The GOP is happier in the minority. They want to be left alone.
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