President Obama was absolutely right several weeks ago when he said the nation needs its leaders to have “an adult conversation” about cutting federal spending, balancing Washington’s annual budget, and dealing with the national debt. Under Obama, spending has exploded as never before in American history, while the annual deficit has been in excess of $1 trillion every year he has been in office. The national debt has ballooned to $14.3 trillion and the government will reach its debt ceiling some time this month. Things are so out of control in the federal government that Washington borrows 40 cents of every dollar it spends. This path is clearly unsustainable, so it’s critical that our leaders put the national interest ahead of their narrow partisan political agendas. Doing that starts with speaking truthfully about what will happen if Congress doesn’t quickly and simply agree with Obama’s request that the debt limit be increased. Obama hasn’t publicly said yet how much he thinks the limit should be raised, but, as The Washington Examiner’s Conn Carroll writes on page 24, it is likely that the chief executive will request an increase of about $3 trillion. It would be childish and irresponsible for Congress to rubber-stamp Obama’s request without insisting on major spending cuts and other reforms that will put the nation’s ailing finances on the road to recovery. Everybody is going to have to give in order for a reasonable and credible compromise to be reached.
But to get to such a compromise, the political scare tactics and apocalyptic rhetoric have got to stop. The world will not end if Congress fails to increase the debt limit as soon as possible. It is worth remembering that, as the Heritage Foundation’s Morning Bell alert recently reminded, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned Congress that we would face “catastrophic damage” and a world financial crisis if Congress failed to act by March 31. That deadline came and went more than a month ago and the sun is still rising on schedule.
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Unfortunately, that fact hasn’t prevented Geithner from continuing his apocalyptic predictions, including a warning on April 17 on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “if you allow people to start to doubt whether the U.S. can pay its obligations — that would be catastrophic.” Such statements are especially unhelpful coming from an official representing a president who has presided over a 70 percent increase in the national debt in only three years. In fact, Congress has delayed raising the debt limit three times in recent years, including a three-month period in 1996, and there is no reason the decision cannot be delayed now as long as needed to reach a responsible compromise.
