Thanks but no thanks, Speaker Boehner
This is completely nuts:
The House Republican plan to extend the debt ceiling for six weeks would permanently ban the Treasury Department from using extraordinary measures to avoid default, congressional aides said.
The provision would ban practices, used by Democratic and Republican administrations for decades, which have effectively allowed the Treasury to limit investments in pensions and other funds when the government bumps up against its borrowing limit. These steps have extended the time that Treasury can continue borrowing and paying the nation’s bills while Congress debates terms for raising the debt ceiling.
This idea is like banning the bomb squad from defusing bombs. There's really nothing subtle about it either: It is a measure with one goal and one goal alone—to make it harder to avoid defaulting on our obligations.
The only people who could possibly like this idea are hostage takers who think having the power to force America into default gives them leverage in political negotiations. In other words, it's exactly the kind of idea that House Republicans are bound to love.
But if you're sick and tired of the drama of debt limit hostage crises, this idea is not for you. Instead of disarming the debt limit time bomb, it is designed to weaponize the debt limit. It would make things worse, not better. It's an idea that should be dead on arrival.