By Dan Kervick
In my previous post I argued that, in passing H.R. 807 on May 9th, the House of Representatives might have unintentionally eliminated the debt ceiling “as a serious political and operational consideration going forward.”
But upon further reflection, and benefiting from the insightful reactions of several commenters, I now think my reading of the act is incorrect, and that if it were passed by the Senate and signed by the President it would not provide the Secretary of the Treasury with a way around the debt ceiling, other than for the limited, intended purposes of paying off maturing debt and Social Security obligations.
