Congress urged to raise debt ceiling...Ho hum
It's become so routine, hardly anyone notices:
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told congressional leaders Monday the agency is now predicting it will reach the nearly $9 trillion statutory debt limit in early October and urged lawmakers to raise the cap before then.
In a letter, Paulson said Congress should hike the $8.965 trillion debt ceiling "as soon as possible" to preserve the "full faith and credit" of the United States.
And yes, we're indeed approaching that $8.965 trillion with lightning speed.
If you're keeping score, this would be the fifth time during Bush's presidency the ceiling has been raised.
And I love this:
Paulson said in his letter that Congress should act before early October or else Treasury would be forced into accounting maneuvers to forestall reaching the debt ceiling. He wrote that such actions "would create unnecessary uncertainty for the financial markets and result in costs to the government. These actions should be reserved only for extraordinary circumstances and should be avoided."
Yes, accounting maneuvers should be reserved for extraordinary circumstances, but raising the debt ceiling should be commonplace. That's Washington logic for you.
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