The national debt has
been frozen at about $18.15 trillion for almost six months, according to the U.S. Treasury. Did Congress accidentally balance
the budget? No. It is because way back in February 2014 Congress gave President
Barack Obama a blank check to borrow as much money as he needed to cover U.S.
financing obligations until March 15, 2015.
The debt ceiling was suspended, relying almost
exclusively on Democrats to pass,
with only 28 House Republicans in support. Since then, the debt has stood
seemingly frozen, with the Treasury utilizing future federal retirement
benefits to meet obligations in the interim. When the debt ceiling is lifted,
so too will these extraordinary measures, and the debt will jump upward by
hundreds of billions of dollars.
In July, Treasury
Secretary Jack Lew had said raiding the retirement funds would run out at the
end of October. But the Congressional
Budget Office has since reported that
due to higher than anticipated revenue, the decision may be able to be
forestalled until November or December.
This makes a short-term continuing
resolution more likely, reports
the Washington Post: “Having more time before the debt
limit is hit could also increase the chances that Congress will try to wrap all
of its remaining fiscal work into one year-end deal, which many lawmakers are
expecting to be the case.”
Which could mean that a short-term
continuing resolution extending so-called discretionary spending past the end
of the month could be on the horizon.
This might give Congressional
leaders two, potentially three bites at the apple to add important legislative
riders to these vital spending bills to advance the policy goals of members in
the Republican majority.
Yet, on the other hand, if Congress combines
everything into a catch-all spending-and-borrowing bill at the end of the
calendar year, President Obama could have all the leverage he needs to
simultaneously threaten default and a government shutdown on the eve of
presidential primaries. This might be enough to block any serious reforms. After all, that is exactly what
happened in 2013 when continuing resolution negotiations over the fate of
Obamacare ran into the jaws of the debt ceiling. After a brief partial
government shutdown, and Obama threatening default, the two issues were
combined — and nothing was accomplished to rein in the health care law.
Earlier this year, when it came to
defunding executive amnesty, Obama did not even need to threaten default. Fear
of a government shutdown was enough to back Republicans off of the effort and
grant the Department of Homeland Security all the money it needed to implement
the Obama’s executive order conferring legal status on illegal immigrants with
U.S.-born children.
To navigate the terrain and get
anything done, the threat of default needs to be taken off the table. In the
least, congressional leaders must separate the debt ceiling from the spending
bill — and keep them separate — denying Obama the leverage he seeks to
blackmail Congress. Otherwise the White House will be
able to shape the debate, wherein a “clean” bill is defined only as one where
all of the administration’s priorities are funded, and the debt ceiling — the
only legal limit on debt — is increased, suspended, or just eliminated altogether.
Robert
Romano is the senior editor of Americans for Limited Government.
http://netrightdaily.com/2015/09/did-congress-accidentally-balance-the-budget-in-2015/
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