The Looming Cliff

This week the House of Representatives passed a bill which raised the debt limit and provided short-term funding for the government until December 3. The party-line vote now heads to the Senate without a bipartisan agreement in place to ensure passage. Meanwhile, Democrats in Washington are using arbitrary deadlines to ram through President Biden's spending agenda.

Averting a government shutdown is in the best interest of our nation, however, Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to negotiate with Republicans to make that happen. For instance, simply raising the borrowing authority without doing anything to address the drivers of our debt and deficit completely defeats the purpose of raising the debt ceiling. Deadlines to both fund the federal government before a shutdown is required and address the debt ceiling before Treasury is unable to make payments is approaching. Instead of tackling these issues at hand, Congressional Democrats have prioritized pushing through President Biden's $5 trillion domestic spending package instead.

The debt ceiling serves as a reminder we are spending too much money that we do not have and has regularly provided an opportunity for Congress to achieve bipartisan budget reforms addressing runaway spending. For example, in 2012, the debt ceiling provided the needed lever to bring forward the first bipartisan budget reform in a generation. By attempting to postpone it into late 2022, the Democrats are making clear that their first and only priority is the expansion of government, regardless of cost.

Congress also needs to present opportunities for reform alongside the debt ceiling. Raising the federal government's borrowing authority without addressing why it is a so-called necessity in the first place will only create a more drastic long-term deficit. It is imperative we work across party lines so we may reach a bipartisan agreement on how to handle such pertinent issues while the federal government hangs in the balance.

We are now less than a week away from a government shutdown which can only be avoided through bipartisan compromise. Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer are the ones who control what bills come to the floor. President Biden controls what gets signed into law. Averting a government shutdown evidently depends on their willingness to seek out bipartisan solutions to these issues, and yet there is no sign they have any plans to reach across the aisle.