U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) introduced legislation on Sept. 29 that would eliminate the debt limit as it currently exists and transfer that authority to the U.S. Treasury Department.
In other words, the Debt Ceiling Reform Act, H.R. 5415, would transfer the duty of raising the debt limit away from Congress and put it in the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury. The debt ceiling is a statutory limit on the amount of national debt that may be issued by the U.S. Treasury after it has spent and incurred that debt. It ultimately limits how much money the federal government can borrow to pay its own bills.
“For the third Congress in a row, I have introduced measures to reform the mechanisms surrounding this arbitrary and reckless debt limit,” Boyle, vice chair of the House Budget Committee, said. “Now, with the Treasury on the verge of running out of money within the next month, we once again find ourselves barreling toward financial calamity. It’s quite clear that this measure, which was first introduced in 1917, has outlived its effectiveness. Simply put, the debt ceiling is incapable of accomplishing what it sets out to do—to control how much the government borrows—as the bills Congress passes are legally binding and cannot be inhibited by such a limit.”
A 2011 agreement negotiated in Congress gave the Obama administration authority to raise the debt limit by $1.2 trillion. The idea was credited to then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and was dubbed the “McConnell Rule.”
“After everything the American people have been through over the last 19 months and all the progress we have made in our recovery, the last thing we need is a dangerous game of political brinkmanship that will devastate our economy and plunge us into another recession,” said John Yarmuth (D-KY), chair of the House Budget Committee and a cosponsor of the bill. “It’s time for Republicans to pull the ripcord and support our legislation to implement the McConnell Rule, giving the Treasury Secretary the authority to raise the debt ceiling. We need to get past this politically manufactured crisis and get on with the business of addressing the needs and priorities of the American people.”
In addition, Boyle and Yarmuth said this bill would stop the “debt ceiling political brinkmanship” and end this era of “self-inflicted crises.”