We Should Really Just Abolish The Debt Ceiling

The debt ceiling doesn’t reduce debt — it just creates one hostage situation after another, as Americans just learned the hard way.

by Karen Dolan, OtherWords

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, the debt ceiling deal President Biden signed into law recently, served its primary purpose: avoiding default on our nation’s debt, which would have plunged the economy into chaos.

President Biden also repelled the worst of the House Republicans’ demands, which included slashing social programs and government services by 60 percent. That would have utterly devastated everything from Head Start and Pell Grants to job training, housing and nutrition assistance, and even air traffic safety.

So talking points from the White House paint the bipartisan deal as a victory for ordinary people. But that isn’t the whole story.

The National Debt Clock in the AnitaÕs Way arcade in Times Square in New York

The bill will still cut or freeze many programs that were already underfunded by the last debt ceiling drama in 2011 — even as it increases military spending by a whopping $28 billion, bringing the Pentagon to a shocking 56 percent share of the budget Congress sets each year.