[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6366-6367]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ADDRESSING THE DEBT LIMIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, amidst all the controversies gripping 
the Congress, certainly we should at least all be able to agree that 
the full faith and credit of the United States, the very trust that the 
public has when it loans money to the government, should not hang in 
the balance every time there's a fiscal debate in Washington.
  This week, the House is expected to consider H.R. 807, to allow a 
temporary exception to the debt limit solely to assure that the full 
and prompt payment of principal and interest is made on the debt in the 
event of an impasse in Washington.
  Now, that should make perfect sense. As a practical matter, a family 
that's depending on its credit cards to pay its bills had better make 
sure to pay the credit card bills first.
  The executive branch already has considerable powers to protect the 
Nation's credit, but the administration hasn't always acknowledged it. 
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution places the validity of the 
public debt beyond question.
  The Government Accountability Office has consistently held that the 
Treasury Secretary already has ``the authority to choose the order in 
which to pay obligations of the United States'' in order to protect the 
Nation's credit. This authority is inherent in the 1789 act that 
established the Treasury Department and entrusted it with the 
management of the revenue and the support of the public credit.
  Even with record deficits, our revenues are roughly 10 times greater 
than our public debt service, so there's no excuse for a debt default. 
And yet, when an impasse over the debt limit loomed 2 years ago, then-
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner insisted that his only option was to 
default on the Nation's credit.
  Now, whether this was a crude attempt to hold the Nation's credit 
hostage to political demands for higher spending or whether it was the 
sincere misunderstanding of his powers and responsibilities is really 
immaterial.
  In the future, this measure would order the Treasury Secretary to

[[Page 6367]]

promptly and fully pay all principal and interest due on the national 
debt, even providing a temporary exemption from the debt limit in order 
to do so.
  Now, most States have provisions in their laws or constitutions 
guaranteeing their debt. Last year in testimony to the Senate, Fed 
Chairman Ben Bernanke praised these State provisions for maintaining 
confidence in State and municipal markets, and he told the House Budget 
Committee that a similar measure at the Federal level would help 
protect the Nation's credit.
  Is this a tacit suggestion that we shouldn't meet our other 
obligations? Well, does anyone suggest that all the States that have 
had similar provisions in their constitutions and statutes for hundreds 
of years have ever used them as an excuse not to pay their other bills? 
Of course not. On the contrary, providing clear and unambiguous 
mandates to protect their credit first, they actually support and 
maintain their ability to pay all of their other obligations.
  For a Congress that's borrowing nearly 40 cents on every dollar that 
it spends, the importance of this provision should be obvious. With the 
Nation carrying a total debt that exceeds its entire economy, it is 
imperative that credit markets be absolutely certain that the risk of 
an American default is nonexistent. Without this confidence, rising 
interest rates could rapidly consume vital government programs and make 
a mockery of the even modest budget savings wrought by the sequester.
  Opponents charge that protecting the public credit above all other 
expenditures would subordinate many other essential obligations, like 
payments to troops or children's nutrition, but they forget the public 
credit is what makes it possible to meet every other obligation of the 
government.
  A prolonged impasse over the debt limit is something that is much to 
be avoided.

                              {time}  1030

  Postponing payment of any of the government's bills would be 
dangerous and unprecedented. Although existing revenues could support 
critical government responsibilities for a while, distress to other 
Federal employees and contractors would be severe, would rapidly 
compound, and would eventually threaten core governmental functions.
  Yet there is a worse fiscal outcome, and that is a failure to honor 
the Nation's debt obligations. We should remember that if the full 
faith and credit of the United States is ever compromised, all programs 
are jeopardized.
  We must recognize that today our country is divided over fiscal 
policy and that bitter fiscal disputes in Congress are likely to 
continue for some time. Financial markets ought to be confident that 
their Treasury bonds are safe regardless of what political storms are 
raging in Washington.

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