No Way Around Raising Debt Limit

As we wrap up the celebration of our nation's birthday, a black cloud, in the form of the national debt limit, still looms. While I can denounce raising the United States' debt ceiling until I'm blue in the face, it seems down right ominous. I, like the Republicans in Congress, would love to deny increasing the debt limit until some huge spending cuts are made. However, the fate of this country hangs in the balance. If the debt limit is not raised by Aug 2, the United States will begin defaulting on its colossal debt. Of course, in order to get everything approved before payments come due, the actual deadline for the increase is, in essence, only a couple weeks away.

So what happens if Congress decides against raising the country's debt limit? Well, for starters, the government will default on a $30 billion interest payment on the debt already owed. As anyone who has ever failed to pay the minimum payment for their credit card can attest, that means higher interest rates. If the United States is already paying $30 billion in interest payments, I'd hate to see what a higher rate would do. But, no matter what, I don't think the economy would ever be able to recover if the government defaulted on those loans.

Depending upon how he chooses to interpret the Fourteenth Amendment, President Barack Obama could go against the wishes of Congress and raise the debt limit anyway. Our forefathers very eloquently worded the Constitution to work for them in 1776, but, since that era, loopholes have been discovered. So, when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in 1868 and included the phrase, 'The validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned,' I highly doubt it was meant to give the president the authority to do as he so pleases when it comes to the debt limit. There has also been talk of Republicans agreeing to a mini deal if it were necessary to prevent a governmental shutdown. While it would be a short-term solution, it would allow the government to make the upcoming payments and give legislators time to come up with a long-term solution.

As I write this, more information has come out saying that negotiations are not far from being resolved. Of course, no deal can be complete without some cuts being made; unfortunately, the cuts in question are likely to come from student aid, farm subsidies and federal employee retirement plan. Though it would be nice to see legislators take cuts in their salary, it would likely be a cold day in hell before that would ever happen. For all I know, this could be a moot point and Congress may already be in the process of agreeing to some sort of deal by the time you read this. But, I guess if it was up to me, I'd take the mini deal, which would buy time for politicians in Washington to determine the best course of action on how to deal with the country's debt issues.

Jennie Oemig
Staff Writer
Trempealeau County Times