Senators, suburban congressmen taking stands on debt limitation
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are pulling out the stops in the coming days to tout their respective positions on raising the nation’s debt limit.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin on Friday morning is hosting a breakfast at Chicago’s posh Union League Club, where he plans to preview what he calls a “progressive response” to cutting the deficit and reining in spending.
A day later, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk and Congressmen Joe Walsh and Don Manzullo will team up for a town hall at McHenry County College, which will include Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute. Like Durbin’s talk, the three Republicans also will focus on Congress’ need to cut spending and reduce the deficit.
While each is warning their actions are the key to responsibility and economic recovery, nobody’s on precisely the same page.
They are, however, united in one respect — by the fact that they are openly discussing how they plan to vote on the controversial legislation. Nationally, few members of Congress have drawn clear lines in the sand.
The nation’s current debt limit of $14.3 trillion — established last February — is expected to be reached by the end of March.
Durbin is in favor of added borrowing, and beginning spending cuts in 2013, once the economy is back on firmer footing.
By not raising the debt ceiling, Durbin warned the government could default on its debt, which would “not only close down the government, but will seriously jeopardize our credit rating in the world.” The value of the dollar could plummet, and unemployment would surge.
He warned new Republican members of Congress who have been talking about the need for the government to crack down on spending at all costs to take caution.
“They better be careful, because this doomsday scenario they are creating is going to create dramatically larger problems in the years to come,” he said.
Kirk and Manzullo, who represents the 16th District, each support short-term borrowing if — and only if — several spending reforms are put into place.
Kirk earlier this month outlined 15 reforms he says should be attached to any legislation regarding the country’s debt. One proposal he wants added to the borrowing legislation is that the debt limit extension be relatively small — allowing just $2 billion to $3 billion to be added at a time, so reformers have “three or four legislative bites of the apple.”
Kirk also wants lower health care costs; reform of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; the lease or sale of underutilized government buildings; 15 percent cuts to the congressional and White House budgets; and a freeze in federal workers’ pay and hiring.
Walsh, a tea party-backed candidate from McHenry who represents the 8th District, said he is “certainly clear against raising the debt limit” and called Kirk’s suggestions “a good contribution to the discussion” but said they do not go far enough.
To even consider borrowing more, Walsh said he’d need to see Congress secure some “major, major spending structural reforms from the administration.”
While Durbin warns of a sort of doomsday scenario if the government cannot raise the debt ceiling, Walsh countered by saying he thinks the government “needs a little shock therapy.”
“This is not going to be a business as usual House. Too many of us got elected on a clear platform (to cut spending) ... This is a fast moving time to use this issue as a real teachable moment,” he said.
Durbin’s forum will take place at 7:30 a.m. Friday at the Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson in Chicago, and the Republican town hall is at 2 p.m. Saturday at 8900 Route 14 in Crystal Lake.