The long and tedious battle for House speaker ended with the GOP arguably more focused on fiscal responsibility and cutting spending. To accomplish this, Republicans are demanding spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. Asking for some future fiscal discipline before allowing Uncle Sam to borrow yet more money is well worth it, but carelessly chosen goals could derail the whole enterprise.
Congress will eventually have to pass legislation to authorize the Department of Treasury to borrow money above and beyond the current debt-ceiling level to avoid a default. Besides, when previous Congresses—both Republican- and Democratic-controlled—passed spending bills paid for with money they didn't have, legislators implicitly agreed to raise the debt ceiling as needed. But that doesn't mean that today's legislators can't demand some spending restraint going forward.
