Saving problems for later
Debt can has been kicked down the road
While the bitter blame game in Congress over the debt-ceiling crisis came to a welcome end last week, the outcome — while in the short term preventing the United States from an immediate default on debt obligations — will do little to improve the long-term indebtedness the United States government faces.
Rep. Tom McClintock,R-Granite Bay, a voice of reason on economic affairs, offered this explanation for opposing the bill:
"This act increases the debt limit by between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion, the biggest explosion of debt in American history. It allows the government to avoid spending reductions for the next two years while squandering our last best hope of averting a sovereign debt crisis."
McClintock cited five deficiencies in the debt deal:
>> The purported cuts, even if realized, are far below the
$4 trillion deficit reduction that credit rating agencies have warned is necessary to preserve the Triple-A credit rating of the U.S. government.
>> It blows the lid off the House budget passed in April by more than a half-trillion dollars over 10 years.
>> It makes no significant spending reductions for at least the next two years, essentially freezing spending at an unsustainable level. While the debt increase occurs this year, deficit reductions are to be spread over many years and could be reversed by future acts of Congress.
>> The spending caps are easily circumvented by declaring appropriations to be an emergency, a response to a "major disaster" or necessary for the "Global War on Terror."
>> The provisions for a balanced-budget constitutional amendment are illusory because the amendment is completely undefined.
Washingtonians have claimed the debt crisis is averted, but if Rep. McClintock’s analysis is correct, Congress and the Obama administration have done little but kick the can down the road.
