Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Debt Ceiling and Is Mike Lee Really a Tea Party Member

Just recently Congress approved the plan to raise the debt ceiling.  What does this mean?  Well essentially the U.S. Government, by constitutional law, is allowed to borrow money.  Article I, Section 8 empowers Congress to tax and borrow money and the use of this section has put us in a crazy situation today.  Essentially over many years (at least going back 12 years) the U.S. Government reduced the amount of revenue it collects or cut taxes and in return borrowed money to pay for things like, national defense, infrastructure projects to the tune of 14 trillion dollars.  To break it down in more simple terms we quit a good paying job and then borrowed money to buy a house and a car. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with either decision.

President Obama found himself in a difficult situation being pinned to the wall by angry Republicans that wanted to cut spending on government. Never mind the fact they voted for most of these tax cuts and spending increases over the past 12 years, but now it is suddenly a big issue.

In the end, no one has really won.  GOP Republicans settled, but alienated tea party voters for failure to cut, cap and balance.  President Obama lost political capital that if he had better advisers, he should have seen this coming 7 months ago when they renewed the tax cuts.  (Then again this seems to be a trend for him)

The only people who really won in this fight is the factioned tea party.  They now have a new cause to re-unify themselves.  For awhile tea party activists have been finding themselves divided and lost.  The idea of cut. cap and balance has focused them again on a single cause. But you need to look closer into the So-Called Tea Party Members.  Some are playing the fence very closely.  Senator Orrin Hatch is clearly one of those.  He voted for the last five debt ceiling raises but now all of the sudden he cares about balanced budgets.  But I want to also point my attention to Senator Mike Lee.

Senator Mike Lee's new book, The Freedom Agenda: Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government, talks about the debt ceiling and how it should be raised.  Essentially making the argument the debt ceiling must be raised but only if congress is willing to make spending changes, which they have done, for example:
"Congress has been far too willing to increase the debt ceiling, a maneuver that presidents and legislative leaders regularly secure through their jeremiads that failing to do so will lead to catastrophe. These claims, in fact, have an element of truth, in that uncertainty and disorder would likely ensue if Congress refused to raise the debt ceiling without first changing the way it spends money."
Lee, Mike (2011-07-18). The Freedom Agenda: Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government (pp. 70-71). Regnery Publishing.  
However the main stream Tea Party philosophy has evolved to this cut, cap and balance idea.  Meaning Cut the spending, Cap the deficit and Balance the budget.  Many Tea Party legislators voted against the new debt plan including Senator Mike Lee.  However later in his book he says the following regarding such a vote:
"Thus, it would be risky and even irresponsible for Congress to refuse to raise the debt ceiling as a means of “forcing” a balanced budget overnight. In addition to causing countless practical problems affecting hundreds of millions of Americans..."
Lee, Mike (2011-07-18). The Freedom Agenda: Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government (p. 71). Regnery Publishing.
In addition to this he said:
"The most risky aspect of not raising the debt ceiling is this: at a time when 43 percent of our annual budget relies on borrowed money, no one knows exactly what would happen if the government suddenly had to stop borrowing. This helps to explain why Congress routinely votes to raise the debt ceiling: though irresponsible, the decision is perceived as less irresponsible than refusing to raise the debt ceiling and potentially plunging the entire federal government into chaos."
Lee, Mike (2011-07-18). The Freedom Agenda: Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government (p. 71-72). Regnery Publishing. 
To his fairness he goes on to explain that we would be irresponsible to borrow because it would make us look bad, even though he has also said to not borrow would make us look bad.

Confused?

I will break it down.  On one side of his mouth he says, It would be bad because it could hurt millions of Americans, on the other side he says it would be bad because it will hurt our credit.

You choose which one to follow?

Either way, his final vote was no, because spending cuts are not good enough, he said. This was his way of playing the fence but not 100 percent agreeing with his Tea Party folks.  Remember, he said forcing a balance budget amendment with the debt ceiling is the wrong way to go and voting against would be bad for millions of Americans.  Yet he voted against it, because his New Reunified Tea Party told him so. In reality he got nearly $3 trillion in cuts but it wasn't enough.  Why?  Because the tea party told him so.  Watch him closely, he is bending with the wind as the tea party movement continues to shape itself.

Comments always welcome.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I really don't think that government should continue to raise the debt ceiling. I think that is like us continuing to get credit cards when times get tough to pay our bills. The Executive and Legislative branches need to follow the Dave Ramsey plan.