Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has a problem. He knows that President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress must pass a debt limit increase to avoid the catastrophe of defaulting on the national debt. But the Trump administration has sent mixed signals about how to handle the debt limit, and congressional Republicans are divided on the issue.
It is hard to imagine a more egregious unforced error than defaulting on the national debt when the same party controls the House, Senate and White House — and hard to imagine anything more absurd than expecting the minority party to make policy concessions to help the governing party avoid default. Ultimately, the whole situation shows the need for a permanent repeal of the debt limit so that it can no longer be taken hostage by anyone — regardless of which party is in charge.
The above excerpt was originally published in The Hill.
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