The chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday said Congress should scrap the federal debt limit, issuing the call a day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged lawmakers to approve an increase before they head home for August recess.
“Given the nation’s fiscal plight, this might seem a strange time to consider abolishing the debt limit, but that is exactly what Congress should do,” J.D. Foster, the Chamber’s chief economist, wrote in a piece published online.
“The debt limit should be abolished, or at least suspended for a very long time, not because the U.S. fiscal picture is sanguine, but because it is far from it, and the debt limit has become an ineffective and dangerous tool that is at best a distraction from the pursuit of real fiscal remedies,” Mr. Foster wrote.
Mr. Foster said Congress should instead focus either on creating “less dangerous” budget tools or restraining deficits through reforming entitlement programs.
Congress and former President Obama had suspended the limit for all of 2016, but it was reimposed in March and set at $19.8 trillion.
Mr. Mnuchin said Wednesday he preferred a “clean” increase, but the conservative House Freedom Caucus is demanding that spending reforms accompany a hike.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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