Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy sent a letter last week to President Joe Biden in which he admonished the White House for not taking more seriously talks to raise the nation’s debt limit, currently set at almost $31.4 trillion. The Biden administration responded by saying House Republicans should increase the ceiling without preconditions and present fleshed out proposals for reducing the budget deficit.
A failure to raise the ceiling could lead to the US government defaulting on its debt obligations in what would be a global financial catastrophe. So far, GOP leaders have fixated on proposals designed to expand oil and gas production in return for raising the debt limit. That’s a worthy goal, but will do next to nothing to reduce a deficit that the bi-partisan Congressional Budget Office forecasts will roughly double to $2.7 trillion by 2033. (1) Instead, Republicans should push for commonsense reforms to the largest driver of long-term deficits, Medicare.
Sure, advocating for benefit cuts for seniors is political kryptonite. What I’m suggesting is much milder, though it would still require a good bit of fearlessness – perhaps more than the GOP is willing to muster.
