A fellow Vermonter shared with me Sen. Patrick Leahy’s reply to his letter expressing concern about the national debt surpassing the value of the entire US economy.
Writes Sen. Leahy: “ In a misguided and damaging attempt to address the national debt and government spending, Congress passed the Budget Control Act of 2011. This law placed artificial and unrealistically low caps on federal spending and inflicting arbitrary, across-the-board spending cuts known as “sequestration.” The Budget Control Act of 2011 expires this year.”
“Should the federal government reach the debt ceiling without action from Congress to raise or repeal it, the Treasury would lose much of its ability to repay existing debt. This would force the United States to default on its debt for the first time ever. As a result, credit markets could freeze, the dollar could plummet, interest rates could rise, and our economic circumstances would severely deteriorate. This must not happen.”
“As Chairman of the [Appropriations] Committee, I remain committed to leading the Committee in a methodical, ethical, and transparent manner. Please know that I will continue to advocate for responsible spending legislation and work to address the pressing challenges that our country faces.”
What’s wrong with this? When the national debt hits the debt ceiling, nothing prevents the Treasury from refinancing existing debt. What it can’t do is pump out more debt to finance more spending. Sen. Leahy apparently hasn’t figured this out, after 47 years in office.
And oh yes, the Senate passed the Budget Control act of 2011 by a vote of 74-26, and Sen. Leahy voted Yes.
Categories: Commentary
All you have to do is look at our politician’s portfolios to see that they aren’t holding any American dollars because their policies want to crash the dollar. You lose, they win!
Will you sleep better tonight, knowing that Leahy “will continue to advocate for responsible spending legislation” ?
I couldn’t even begin to understand what that sentence means coming from his mouth.
why can’t we kick this old fossil to the curb, it’s time for new vermont senators in Washington. the three stogies must go! they’ve gotten rich on the taxpayer dime and maybe through round about backdoor means too! how does a person become a multimillionaire on $174,000 a year?
Don’t worry, Leahy gets his feed at the pig trough. The bigger the debt, the larger the feed…You don’t actually think these people stay in politics for love of country do you?