Quick! We need more debt!
The Bush Administration has decided that enough just isn't enough, and that the federal debt ceiling needs to be raised. Without it, we as a nation would actually have to cut back on the spending we enjoy right now, especially the money-sink called Iraq that is draining our federal coffers and putting us farther and farther into the red.
From today's Washington Post:
THE GOVERNMENT, Treasury Secretary John W. Snow informed Congress last week, has now taken "all prudent and legal actions" to avoid bumping up against the debt ceiling. The limit, Mr. Snow told lawmakers, will need to be raised from its current level: $8,184,000,000,000. If you aren't used to deciphering that parade of zeros, let us translate for you: $8.184 trillion isn't enough. The administration is asking for an additional $781 billion.
The inevitable increase will be the fourth such hike in five years, for a total rise in the national credit limit of more than $3 trillion. During his time in office, President Bush has presided over a 46 percent increase in the federal debt, from about $5.6 trillion. By contrast, during President Bill Clinton's two terms, the debt grew from less than $4 trillion to $5.6 trillion, a 28 percent increase -- and during the last few years of his presidency, Mr. Clinton actually began to pay down the country's "real" debt, that is, debt held by the public, as opposed to the IOUs in Social Security and other government accounts.
Put another way, Mr. Bush has managed to rack up more new debt during his five years in office than the entire debt amassed by the United States through 1988. And there is more to come: The president's budget envisions the debt rising to $11.5 trillion by 2011. This means that an increasing share of an increasingly tight budget must be devoted simply to paying interest -- an estimated $220 billion this fiscal year alone. Remember: This is the president who entered office promising to pay off $2 trillion in debt held by the public over the next decade. Far from being paid down, the debt held by the public has grown, from $3.3 trillion in 2001 to $5 trillion this year.
Eventually, probably after little fanfare, Congress will approve the raising of the debt ceiling, as it must. The House has already approved it, quietly, so as to avoid any politically damaging attention. The Senate plans to take up the measure this week; the Senate also hopes to get this unpleasant business over with as quickly and quietly as possible. Already Democrats and Repblicans both have secured agreements to make the vote run smoothly and flawlessly.
The quiet passage of this bill does not eliminate the need to do something to get the budget under control!