Debt ceiling crisis: How did we get here?

Like most political activists, Perot didn’t make a good politician. His 1992 and ’96 presidential bids failed, and his Tea Party-like movement, the Reform Party, fell apart when it tried to become an actual political party. But the Perot effect lasted awhile, with the newly educated electorate demanding a balanced budget. The effort became part of the Clinton presidency, and was supported by the Republicans who temporarily controlled Congress.

In the mid-’90s, the House passed the balanced budget constitutional amendment, but it failed in the Senate by just one vote. Soon the public moved on to other issues, and when it wasn’t looking, the annual deficits increased, and we now have national debt of $14.3 trillion.

In 2006, concern about the accumulating debt was expressed by then-Senator Barack Obama, when he voted against raising the debt ceiling:

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure … a sign that the US government can’t pay its own bills … that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government’s reckless fiscal policies… .

“Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally … Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren… Americans deserve better… .’’

Though the debt ceiling was raised that year, many Americans agreed the nation deserved better. Some ran for Congress on a pledge to fight to balance the budget and to control the national debt. Part of their campaign strategy was to take the Americans for Tax Reform pledge not to raise taxes. This was not just conservative dislike of tax increases: an uncontrolled national debt means a much higher tax burden on future generations.

But the issue is not whether to raise taxes now or to raise them later. It is how to address uncontrolled government spending.