A Long-term Mistake
July 24, 2011
IF CONGRESS SETS THE PRECEDENT of conceding to the executive branch the authority to raise the debt ceiling, it will have ramifications that will impact the United States for centuries. Republics almost always experience decline when the legislature parcels out its authority to a single individual. But this is never more true when matters come to the purse-strings.
In the seventeenth century, Oliver Cromwell and the ”Round-heads” were only relevant in the discussion of public worship and the proliferation of the Bible because Parliament possessed the power to cut off Charles I’s funding of the wars he wished to fight. With that power, Cromwell and the Puritans were able to force the issue to the front and center of Charles Stuart’s political (and actual) life.
Granting Barack Obama authority to raise the debt ceiling means Congress must be prepared for other presidents to do the same. Mitch McConnell’s gamble is that the president will raise the ceiling, Republicans will vote against it, and Mr. Obama will absorb the full impact of the negative political consequences in November 2012.
It may or may not work in the short-term. But it will almost certainly weaken Congress in the long-term. No wonder President Obama is so eager to accept Senator McConnell’s plan. That alone should indicate to the senator that there is more at stake than the next election.
