Each year, the House of Representatives takes the opportunity to demonstrate its frugality by voting against a proposal to increase the “temporary” ceiling on the national debt to whatever level is needed to pay for the programs that Congress has enacted. Actually, there is no point in having the debt ceiling. The theory is that by establishing a ceiling on the national debt Congress imposes on itself a limit on what it will spend, but in practice it works the other way around: Congress enacts the spending legislation and then raises the debt ceiling to pay for it. “I’ve never understood exactly why we do it,” [Representative Tom] Foley said to me, “or why anyone can think it’s ‘fiscally responsible’ to vote against raising the debt ceiling when we’ve already incurred the responsibilities. It’s like not paying your bills. It’s silly to go through the posturing that you’re saving money by not voting to increase the national debt.” On occasion, the House rejects the debt-ceiling increase several times, until the moment comes when the government cannot legally spend any more money—salaries cannot be paid, the Social Security checks have to be stopped. And this year, the House did not resist the opportunity to reject the debt increase, before approving it on March 15th.
—Elizabeth Drew, “Sketchbook,” A Reporter at Large, April 9, 1979
