Congress keeps raising the so-called limit on the national debt so regularly and routinely that the event is seldom worth mentioning.
But this time around it's different.History could be made after the Senate Finance Committee meets Tuesday to start action on the latest increase. If Congress approves the increase as expected, it will mark the first time ever that Uncle Sam's debts have exceeded $3 trillion.
It's hard to imagine Congress not going along with the move. If the debt limit is not increased by Aug. 1, the Treasury insists it won't have enough money to pay Social Security checks. If the increase isn't made by Aug. 15, the Treasury warns it will have to default on $17 billion worth of interest payments due on old debt. And any default could trigger economic disaster by creating a crisis of confidence in financial markets.
Such warnings, however, don't seem to impress Sen. John Heinz of Pennsylvania. He wants to add an amendment to the bill hiking the debt limit. And that amendment just might throw a hitch into the routine in which Congress ordinarily rubber-stamps the debt hike.
Actually, Heinz's objective makes sense but not his method of pursuing it. His amendment would force the government to stop spending surpluses in the Social Security trust fund for routine operation costs - a practice that hides the true extent of the federal deficit and risks retirees' future. But the senator should let his proposal stand or fall on its own merits.
Up to a point, it's hard to blame Heinz for thinking so little of the debt-increase bill that he is trying to hold it hostage. After all, Congress increases the debt limit at least once each year, knowing the new limit will never be observed and that it will have to be increased again and again. That makes about as much sense as increasing the speed limit on the highways to accommodate the speeders, not restrain them.
But this annual exercise in fiscal hypocrisy won't end until the president is given a line-item veto enabling him to kill individual parts of spending bills instead of having to accept or reject the entire package. Even a line-item veto is no substitute for the simple willpower needed to keep federal spending within the limits of what the country can afford.
Meanwhile, look for business as usual in Washington. That means a national debt ceiling that keeps going higher and higher. Never mind that the scheduled new $3 trillion limit comes to $12,096 for every man, woman and child in the country. Ouch!