Well the Constitution assigns to Congress authority to borrow on the credit of the US because such borrowing has generational implications.
It's a really big deal to put the entire country in debt, so Congress has that authority to make sure the people are agreeing to it.
The debt ceiling is merely the term we use for the amount that Congress has agreed to borrow.
Not only is it constitutional, but it is constitutionally mandated.
The Treasury's accounting statements show that it will have enough money to pay the debts regardless of whether the president gets his request for more power to borrow, so he needs to get to it and knock off these threats.
It's pretty simple. The Constitution says that the president can't borrow without permission of Congress, and that law was an example of Congress giving permission.
This is just enacting the clear text of the Constitution.
Oh no, they did not vote for this debt, and that's why we are in such a mess!
Had Congress voted to provide borrowing authority along with their appropriations bill we wouldn't even be talking about this. But the last Congress didn't do that, setting up this huge issue where they authorized spending of money that they did not actually provide to be spent.
That's the whole core of this controversy. And I really wish we would hold those congresspeople accountable for putting us in this situation, and the president accountable for signing it.
Unfortunately they are going to skate accountability as they point fingers elsewhere for the mess that they themselves created.
Oh it's definitely constitutional. Congress can appropriate whatever money it wants, and Congress is perfectly free to pass very irresponsible bills because we elect irresponsible politicians to engage in that legislating.
And we keep reelecting the same people who have passed irresponsible bills. So I guess we're cool with that.
But none of that changes the situation we're in now where the president wants more power to borrow, and Congress isn't really happy to give it to him, as is the whole point of the process, the checks on power built into the US system of government.
Yes, the last Congress was irresponsible. This president is not only complicit in that irresponsibility but is promoting it now with his threats of default.
And since we don't call these politicians out on what they are doing, well we will just keep getting more of the same going forward.
Yay democracy.
I really don't care about party.
It's about pointing out the individual legislators and president who got us into the situation as they passed appropriations bills without actually funding them, promising to spend money that they would not have, and now putting us into this state of chaos.
I don't care what party my representative claims. If he voted for this situation, he needs to be held accountable for that, and I would vote against him.
But no. The people who caused this situation are going to be largely reelected, they were largely reelected, because they are allowed to point fingers elsewhere for the situations they are responsible for.
Ha, CRs don't pass themselves!
The problem isn't the CR. The problem is politicians that we elect that promise spending they don't actually fund, run by bragging about that, and then we reelect because we don't pay attention to the problem they've set us up for.
The problem isn't the CR. The problem is the politicians, from the last Congress, who actively voted us into this position.
You're missing the point that the appropriations didn't come with funding to appropriate.
Yes, they appropriated money out of an account that didn't have money.
The debt ceiling is absolutely a real thing, right there in the original Constitution, that requires it since in Article I it gave to Congress authority "To borrow Money on the credit of the United States"
That's your debt ceiling right there, the amount that Congress has chosen to borrow.
I absolutely can blame Biden and the last Congress for not authorizing borrowing to provide money for the spending the authorized. They 100% had that ability, and they 100% didn't provide that funding, leading us to this situation.
They promised to spend more money than there was, and they chose to do that freely, as they had the full authority to authorize borrowing along with their appropriations bill. Congress has that power. They didn't bother using it.
I can blame that fact on Biden and the last Congress because that's exactly what they did, willfully.
We are here in this position because of the legislation that the last Congress chose to pass and that Biden chose to sign, even though this disconnect between spending and funding was obvious. It was right there in the math for all to see.
I'm happy to criticize Trump and, I was certainly opposed to those spending bills. But there's a major difference between then and now:
Funding was provided for those programs. The issue of this moment is that funding for these programs doesn't exist.
I believe the worst thing is Congress having promised to spend money that doesn't exist. That breaks the government all around.
Sort out infrastructure spending however, but do it reasonably, providing a funding source for the programs.
No, you're incorrect.
The debt ceiling is just the term for the constitutional assignment of borrowing authority to Congress. The name might be recent, but the idea goes back to the very beginning.
"The Congress shall have Power [..] To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;" <--- there's your debt ceiling right there
So Congress authorized deficit spending, but failed to authorize the borrowing needed to actually make it possible.
Since Congress failed to provide a funding source to cover that gap, they left us in this mess, having authorized something impossible.
Again, authorize infrastructure or don't, but if they do, then they need to provide funding for their program.
They didn't, and they need to be called out for that.
If the funding sources were agreed upon in 2022 then we wouldn't be at this place, as the spending would be covered.
But sure, show me where in the budget bill it lists the source of funding to cover the deficit spending.
