Trump, Schumer agree to pursue plan to repeal the debt ceiling

The Washington Post ^ | September 7th, 2017 | By Damian Paletta and Ashley Parker

[Mariner]

President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have agreed to pursue a deal that would permanently remove the requirement that Congress repeatedly raise the debt ceiling, three people familiar with the decision said.

Trump and Schumer discussed the idea Wednesday during an Oval Office meeting. The two, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.), agreed to work together over the next several months to try to finalize a plan, which would need to be approved by Congress.

One of the people familiar described it as a “gentlemen’s agreement.”

Senate Democrats hope they will be able to finalize an arrangement with Trump by December.

“The president encouraged congressional leaders to find a more permanent solution to the debt ceiling so the vote is not so frequently politicized,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

[C19fan]

The debt ceiling has failed its purpose. The only result are these annual or semiannual sky is falling episodes about the US defaulting on its debt. Time to get rid of it.

[DoodleDawg]

President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have agreed to pursue a deal that would permanently remove the requirement that Congress repeatedly raise the debt ceiling, three people familiar with the decision said.

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution says only Congress can borrow money on the credit of the United States. Approval has to be granted by Congress in some fashion, and if not through a debt limit then I don't know how they would do it.

[gibsonguy]

Trump said as much yesterday and it pains me to say it. But what good is the ceiling leverage if you are not willing to use it. We tried folks.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Year in, year out, nothing really changes.
 

[mrsmith]

It’s become useless as a tool.
But at least it gets the debt into the public awareness despite the media’s inclination to ignore it.
The media wants the government to borrow and give the money to their advertisers’ customers so the media profits.

If a better way of forcing the issue past the media’s coverup comes along I’m all for it.
But that isn’t going to happen.
The media’s advertisers are also the politician’s donors.

[C210N]

Calling my mechanic today and have him remove all my car’s brakes... regular and parking. Just impedes my traveling...

[tennmountainman]

Although I did not read the entire article, maybe this means moving
back to annual budgets. And regular order.
Looks like Ryan and McConnell are left out in the cold again.

[Rusty0604]

If you do a search, it’s being reported on several sites.

[plain talk]

I think it’s odd that trump is in cahoots with schumer on this. Of course trump wants increased infrastructure spending which dems will love. But then has the swamp ever NOT raised the debt ceiling? I may be wrong be it does seem like the debt ceiling is a little game the swamp creatures play. Now Trump runs the 3rd branch of the swamp.

[Alberta's Child]

There's a reason why you rarely ever heard any discussions about the debt ceiling until the last decade or so. Until the QE, QE2, etc. fiscal policies of the last two administrations, interest rates on U.S. bonds effectively served as a "debt ceiling" that forced our government to either operate in a fiscally responsible manner or pay the price for fiscal responsibility through higher interest rates.

As the U.S. faces its inevitable decline as a world power, our ability to set artificially low interest rates for our own debt will disappear. At some point, nobody with an IQ over 40 is going to buy a U.S. Treasury note unless it pays an exorbitant interest rate.

[Alberta's Child]

... or pay the price for fiscal responsibility through higher interest rates.

Sorry about that ... it's supposed to be "fiscal IRRESPONSIBILITY."

[Governor Dinwiddie]

#14: "We are Greece if this happens. Or the Weimar Republic."

(not Photoshop, not fake; this is real.)

[brianr10]

This elimination of the ceiling may signal the markets to demand for higher interest rates on US debt.

[Rusty0604]

Trump and Schumer are both from New York, threats of not raising the debt ceiling and government shutdown isn’t good for Wall Street. Just my speculation.

[Wolfie]

There would no longer be a lever to exact spending and deficit concessions.

Yeah, because it's been so effective at curtailing deficit spending.

[FreeReign]

Trump, Schumer agree to pursue plan to repeal the debt ceiling...

That's a McConnell dream come true.

[butlerweave]

Someone overheard someone saying something about something

[Buckeye McFrog]

It also puts Democrats on the defensive.

How can they cut deals with Trump and yet claim he is the illegitimate spawn of Hitler?

I am not sure what Trump is REALLY up to here, but it could be brilliant.

[Reagan Disciple]

In before the.....Trump is a master of the deal, he’s playing Schumer and Pelosi against Ryan and McConnell because he knows they’ll cave, what a master of disguise, Trump is brilliant in how he plays the media, Trump will fix it all in December.......drivel.

The spin that this was for the hurricane relief is also nonsense - they could allocate $7B without adding trillions to the debt.

[BJ1]

>>>We are Greece if this happens. Or the Weimar Republic.<<<

If it was not raised, there would be huge shocks as the govt would have to immediately cut $250B in spending. As most spending is on autopilot, those cuts would be forced onto a relatively small portion of the govt. It would cause huge problems. Maybe you don’t care about it, but most others do. And that’s just for today. If interest rates climb up, the debt service cost will soar, making things much worse budget wise.

Now if we can’t even stop spending more than we take in, we are already conceding the debt will never be paid. Are we not already Greece? We are only postponing the day the SHTF, but we are already hopeless no?