H.J.Res. 57: A Constitutional Amendment to Make it Harder to Raise the Debt Limit
As a small business owner, I put a lot of thought into each investment I made. If I needed to take out a loan to expand my business, you can bet I ran the numbers more than once, and considered all the pros and cons of taking on debt. So I was genuinely surprised when I got to Washington and realized that there wasn’t always a lot of discussion about raising our country’s debt limit. All too often, the debt limit was raised as part of another bill. I don’t think that’s right. When the government asks the American people to basically increase the limit on its credit card it should require more thought and discussion. So I’ve introduced a Constitutional amendment that would require a two-thirds majority vote in the House and the Senate before we can raise our debt limit.
Right now, it seems that when the government is spending beyond its means, the easiest thing to do is to raise the debt limit and take out more loans. Raising our national credit limit should be a measure of last resort, and my amendment will make it more difficult to do, so that it is no longer our first choice, but our last.