Debt and Taxes

THE DEBT CEILING is the ultimate, all-purpose political football. The party in power invariably wants to lift the limit as much and as quietly as possible. The opposition party wants to make the move as public, and therefore as politically painful for the other side, as can be. Everyone knows that eventually, after sufficient theatrics, the limit will be raised; the government can't start bouncing its checks. Still, this year's maneuverings -- expected to come to the floor before the Senate leaves town for Memorial Day -- offer some particularly delicious samples of political hypocrisy and partisan gamesmanship, along with a less amusing reminder of the consequences of irresponsible budgeting.

During their long years in the minority, House Republicans railed against a bit of procedural hocus-pocus known as the Gephardt rule, which allowed the majority to avoid an explicit vote to increase the ceiling. The rule, the late Rep. Gerald B.H. Solomon (R-N.Y.) said in 1993, was "a red-ink-producing machine on automatic pilot." When they took power, Republicans made a lot of noise about how they were above this sort of trick. But after they just managed to squeak through a $450 billion increase in the debt limit last year, by a single vote, the Gephardt rule looked a lot more attractive. So Republicans included it in their new rules this Congress -- and spared themselves the resulting political unpleasantness.

That was probably a smart move, because the proposal on the table this week is to raise the debt limit by an eye-popping $984 billion, the biggest single jump ever, on top of a current ceiling of $6.4 trillion. The increase alone would be bigger than the entire federal debt in 1980. The Treasury Department happens to need this increase just as Congress is debating a $350 billion-plus tax cut that will only add to the existing debt. Democrats haven't been shy about noting this unfortunate juxtaposition. Their game on the Senate floor is to try to tack an amendment onto the debt limit bill that would toss it back to the House for a separate vote, exactly what the revived Gephardt rule was designed to prevent.

Democrats want to pass a much smaller increase -- one that will require Congress to revisit the issue by the end of the year. Republicans want an increase big enough to push any future hike safely past November 2004 -- though with the deficit picture getting bleaker by the day, they'll probably be back for more by next summer. Meanwhile, the House is doing its best to skedaddle; adjourning before the Senate acts on the debt limit would maximize pressure on the Senate simply to accede to what the House has already done. The brinksmanship is intense. Treasury says that after several months of juggling the books (in much the same way that Republicans decried when it was done by Democratic Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin), it will bump up against the ceiling this coming Wednesday. Asked what would occur if Congress failed to act, Assistant Treasury Secretary Brian Roseboro said it was simply "unthinkable." So is the mess in which this country will find itself if it continues to heedlessly cut taxes without apparent concern for the debt toll ahead.