Why I Won't Vote to Raise the Debt Limit
Everyone in Washington knows how to cut spending. The time to start is now.
By MARCO RUBIO
WSJ.com
Americans have built the single greatest
nation in all of human history. But
America's exceptionalism was not
preordained. Every generation has had to
confront and solve serious challenges and,
because they did, each has left the next
better off. Until now.
Our generation's greatest challenge is an
economy that isn't growing, alongside a
national debt that is. If we fail to
confront this, our children will be the
first Americans ever to inherit a country
worse off than the one their parents were
given.
Current federal policies make it harder
for job creators to start and grow
businesses. Taxes on individuals are
complicated and set to rise in less than two
years. Corporate taxes will soon be the
highest in the industrialized world. Federal
agencies torment job creators with an
endless string of rules and regulations.
On top of all this, we have an
unsustainable national debt. Leaders of both
parties have grown our government for
decades by spending money we didn't have. To
pay for it, they borrowed $4 billion a day,
leaving us with today's $14 trillion debt.
Half of that debt is held by foreign
investors, mostly China. And there is no
plan to stop. In fact, President Obama's
latest budget request spends more than $46
trillion over the next decade. Under this
plan, public debt will equal 87% of our
economy in less than 10 years. This will
scare away job creators and lead to higher
taxes, higher interest rates and greater
inflation.
Betting on America used to be a sure
thing, but job creators see the warning
signs that our leaders ignore. Even the
world's largest bond fund, PIMCO, recently
dumped its holdings of U.S. debt.
We're therefore at a defining moment in
American history. In a few weeks, we will
once again reach our legal limit for
borrowing, the so-called debt ceiling. The
president and others want to raise this
limit. They say it is the mature,
responsible thing to do.
In fact, it's nothing more than putting
off the tough decisions until after the next
election. We cannot afford to continue
waiting. This may be our last chance to
force Washington to tackle the central
economic issue of our time.
"Raising America's debt limit is a sign
of leadership failure." So said then-Sen.
Obama in 2006, when he voted against raising
the debt ceiling by less than $800 billion
to a new limit of $8.965 trillion. As
America's debt now approaches its current
$14.29 trillion limit, we are witnessing
leadership failure of epic proportions.
I will vote to defeat an increase in the debt limit unless it is the last one we ever authorize and is accompanied by a plan for fundamental tax reform, an overhaul of our regulatory structure, a cut to discretionary spending, a balanced-budget amendment, and reforms to save Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
There is still time to accomplish all
this. Rep. Dave Camp has already introduced
proposals to lower and simplify our tax
rates, close loopholes, and make permanent
low rates on capital gains and dividends.
Even Mr. Obama has endorsed the idea of
lowering our corporate tax rate. Sen. Rand
Paul, meanwhile, has a bill that would
require an up-or-down vote on "major"
regulations, those that cost the economy
$100 million or more. And the House has
already passed a spending plan this year
that lowered discretionary spending by $862
billion over 10 years.
Such reductions are important, but
nondefense discretionary spending is a mere
19% of the budget. Focusing on this alone
would lead to draconian cuts to essential
and legitimate programs. To get our debt
under control, we must reform and save our
entitlement programs.
No changes should be made to Medicare and
Social Security for people who are currently
in the system, like my mother. But people
decades away from retirement, like me, must
accept that reforms are necessary if we want
Social Security and Medicare to exist at all
by the time we are eligible for them.
Finally, instead of simply raising the
debt limit, we should reassure job creators
by setting a firm statutory cap on our
public debt-to-GDP ratio. A comprehensive
plan would wind down our debt to sustainable
levels of approximately 60% within a decade
and no more than half of the economy shortly
thereafter. If Congress fails to meet these
debt targets, automatic across-the-board
spending reductions should be triggered to
close the gap. These public debt caps could
go in tandem with a Constitutional balanced
budget amendment.
Some say we will go into default if we
don't increase the debt limit. But if we
simply raise it once again, without a real
plan to bring spending under control and get
our economy growing, America faces the very
real danger of a catastrophic economic
crisis.
I know that by writing this, I am
inviting political attack. When I proposed
reforms to Social Security during my
campaign, my opponent spent millions on
attack ads designed to frighten seniors. But
demagoguery is the last refuge of the
spineless politician willing to do anything
to win the next election.
Whether they admit it or not, everyone in Washington knows how to solve these problems. What is missing is the political will to do it. I ran for the U.S. Senate because I want my children to inherit what I inherited: the greatest nation in human history. It's not too late. The 21st century can also be the American Century. Our people are ready. Now it's time for their leaders to join them.
Mr. Rubio, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Florida.