Breaking the Debt-Ceiling Cycle

By Tim Shoemaker

Senator Mike Lee penned an article published in National Review Online on the need for a Balanced Budget Amendment.  He discusses how Washington conjures up a “debt-ceiling boogeyman” to maintain the tax-and-deficit-spending status quo in D.C.

Many in Washington still refuse to face the reality our government’s debt and deficits have created.  Senator Lee on the other hand sees the danger of maintaining the status quo quite clearly.

Blindly raising the debt ceiling yet again carries significant risk – indeed, a risk that easily rivals that associated with not raising it. In the last three years, gross federal debt has grown from 64 percent to 93 percent of GDP. Debt of this magnitude crowds out much-needed private investment and could lead to reduced private-sector growth, persistent unemployment, a devastating fiscal crisis (think of Greece), and skyrocketing interest rates. The financial shortfalls created by such conditions could seriously impair Congress’s ability to fund everything from defense to entitlements.

Read the rest.

Congress needs to reign in D.C.’s out of control spending habits.  However, without “binding, permanent, structural spending reforms” such as the BBA, Congress will never balance the budget on their own.  With the BBA, it would require a supermajority in both houses to raise taxes, raise the debt ceiling, or spend more than 18 percent of the GDP.  It would also prohibit Congress from spending more than it takes in unless two-thirds of both houses voted to allow a “limited deficit for a specified purpose.”  These reforms would not only make Washington’s tax-and-deficit-spending ways more difficult to enact, they would require a roll call vote that would haunt any politician’s political future after voting for more deficit spending or to increase your taxes.

Recently, Senator Lee filmed a quick update about the BBA for C4L members.  After watching, don’t forget to sign our petition to your senators in support of a BBA.

Read more at Campaign for Liberty