The debt ceiling as it stands is a failed policy

Rep. John B. Larson wrote the following op-ed that appeared in the Hartford Courant:

Earlier this month, President Joseph Biden signed legislation to avoid a catastrophic default. While not perfect, the president did an admirable job negotiating with the extreme Republicans who began their tenure in the House majority by attempting to leverage the full faith and credit of our nation with cuts to Social Security and Medicare. In that light, what was agreed to falls far short of these dangerous goals.

Still, we cannot normalize what played out over the last six months. While I would never support a national default, once it became clear that legislation to raise the debt ceiling would pass overwhelmingly, I voted against the legislation to protest the normalization of holding the American economy hostage in order to extract policy goals. It is also why I support ending this recurring threat once and for all.

To understand the radical nature of House Republicans, it is important to understand the debt ceiling in context. Congress has lifted the debt limit almost 80 times since 1960, including three times where Republicans overwhelmingly supported raising it under President Trump. Now, however, we have experienced three occasions where this usually routine process has become a manufactured crisis: 2011, 2013, and 2023. There is no stronger evidence that Republicans’ only use for the debt ceiling is as a political weapon than the fact that they raised the ceiling without dramatics three times under President Trump while he added $8 trillion to the national debt. Yet Republicans demand extractions under Democratic Presidents.

The debt ceiling as it stands is a failed policy, which gives our worst actors the tools to threaten defaulting on payments they themselves voted for in order to extract concessions. Prior to an agreement being reached, I led other members of Congress in urging President Biden to recognize that the debt ceiling is unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment reads, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”  Bottom line: we must pay our bills to preserve our standing around the globe and the dollar here at home.

There are other ways the debt ceiling can be amended to make its use more responsible. I am working with Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle (PA-02) on legislation that would empower the secretary of the treasury to initiate increasing the debt ceiling. Should Congress find such an increase irresponsible, it would have 30 days to pass a resolution blocking it. If Republicans think that default is the most responsible course of action, they should be required to put their name behind a vote to do so and make the case to the American public.

It should serve as a warning sign to us all that no sooner than legislation to raise the debt ceiling passed the House, Speaker Kevin McCarthy went on Fox News to say that Social Security and Medicare were only spared because President Biden had walled them off from cuts. McCarthy then announced his intention to go after the Republican Study Committee’s goal of cutting Social Security and Medicare.

The debt limit stands as a tool that empowers those who would threaten Social Security checks, Medicare coverage, and our entire economy to deliver on radical and unpopular political goals. I felt I had to send a clear message: there’s a better way. Once it was clear the nation would not default, I felt it was my responsibility to vote no.