A good friend and former colleague of mine was fond back in the day of reminding me that “the president proposes, while the Congress disposes.”
His meaning is simple: The president can propose laws all he wants, but it rests with Congress to enact them.
That’s the lesson that needs to be learned as the current president, Barack Obama, and the 113th Congress prepare to battle over the debt ceiling. Indeed, President Obama is beginning to make a point that ought to resonate across the nation. Congress, he said today in his radio address, must honor the debt obligation that it has run up.
At issue is whether the United States is going to increase the amount of debt it can accrue legally. The nation will reach its debt limit by the end of March. Congress has to increase it to make sure the government can pay its bills. Failure to do so would threaten the nation’s credit rating around the world.
Historically, the debt ceiling has been increased automatically with little or no debate. But these days Congress is populated by lawmakers, mostly Republican tea party types, who have taken a new tack. They won’t boost the debt limit without insisting on spending cuts. They threaten the financial well-being of the nation by digging in their heels on the debt limit. Obama says he won’t “negotiate” with Congress over the debt ceiling. Many in Congress say they won’t increase it without spending cuts.
Even the late Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of tea party Republicans, managed several automatic debt increases during his two terms as president in the 1980s.
The zealots in Congress must understand something here. They inherited that body’s constitutional responsibilities when they took their oaths of office. The Congress still disposes of laws. It, not the president, is responsible ultimately for spending government money – and for incurring the debt that now totals more than $16 trillion.
It does no good to shove the responsibility off on the White House, which isn’t responsible in the first place for the government being so deeply in debt.
Is it so wrong to boost the debt ceiling while continuing to search for places to cut future government spending?