We are getting closer to the date by which the debt ceiling needs to be raised. Right now, no one is talking about that in Washington; they are all too focused on the partial government shutdown or the brave Capitol police who shot and killed an unarmed woman who was in a car with her baby. It is time to look ahead and to talk. The debt ceiling is too important to let it get caught up in the current mess. Unlike the partial shutdown, failing to raise the debt ceiling could have truly lasting consequences for America and they would not be good ones. Here is what I suggest:
The House should past legislation to raise the debt ceiling by enough to get us through the next three months. It should be a clean bill with no conditions attached. Even Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats could not reject that move. The debt limit would be off the table. This would accomplish a number of things.
1. It would decouple the debt limit and the continuing resolution to fund the government. The fight remaining would be on spending and not default.
2. It would assure Wall Street and the world that American bonds remained secure investments, so there would be no damage to the dollar or to America's ability to continue to borrow.
3. The reassurance to the markets would help bolster the GOP position on government spending. It would undermine the Democrats opposition to negotiations on spending. After all, with one of the main short term pressure points removed, the Democrats might begin to fear that their refusal to talk could lead to a flip in the public perception of what was happening. Even worse for the Democrats, the American people might see that the partial shutdown (which only affects less than 15% of the federal government) is not such a bad thing. It would be like the reaction to Sequestration which the Democrats and the media built up into Armageddon and the public ultimately saw more like a low speed bump.
4. The GOP should continue to pass measures to fund specific parts of the government. It will be hard for Obama and Reid to continue to close the NIH to cancer patients or to continue to leave veterans without benefits. This too should bring them to the table.
The House should past legislation to raise the debt ceiling by enough to get us through the next three months. It should be a clean bill with no conditions attached. Even Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats could not reject that move. The debt limit would be off the table. This would accomplish a number of things.
1. It would decouple the debt limit and the continuing resolution to fund the government. The fight remaining would be on spending and not default.
2. It would assure Wall Street and the world that American bonds remained secure investments, so there would be no damage to the dollar or to America's ability to continue to borrow.
3. The reassurance to the markets would help bolster the GOP position on government spending. It would undermine the Democrats opposition to negotiations on spending. After all, with one of the main short term pressure points removed, the Democrats might begin to fear that their refusal to talk could lead to a flip in the public perception of what was happening. Even worse for the Democrats, the American people might see that the partial shutdown (which only affects less than 15% of the federal government) is not such a bad thing. It would be like the reaction to Sequestration which the Democrats and the media built up into Armageddon and the public ultimately saw more like a low speed bump.
4. The GOP should continue to pass measures to fund specific parts of the government. It will be hard for Obama and Reid to continue to close the NIH to cancer patients or to continue to leave veterans without benefits. This too should bring them to the table.
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