# If Debt Ceiling Doesn't Get Raised. How do they decide who doesn't get paid?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-debt-ceiling-doesnt-get-raised-how-do-they-decide-who-doesnt-get-paid/589666>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-debt-ceiling-doesnt-get-raised-how-do-they-decide-who-doesnt-get-paid/589666 "2011-07-20T03:01:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-debt-ceiling-doesnt-get-raised-how-do-they-decide-who-doesnt-get-paid/589666/41 "2011-07-22T01:35:51Z")

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Well, it really depends on what your definition of a pension and a promise to pay money is and on whether that constitutional provision is to be read narrowly. If the US government collects money from people in the form of a tax and tells people that it is a trust fund for payments in their old age and then uses that money like it was a source of income, that is basically a government note, a bond, in exchange for payments in old age. Is that a pension? Yes. In my judgment. I have never heard any argument that I thought carried any weight otherwise. If any private entity had done this, with compulsory or voluntary pay-ins, it would certainly be a pension and a debt. The question is whether the US government can turn it’s back on 75 years of collecting money and making payments this way as a matter of constitutional law. As the Supreme Court has shown us over and over again, this is a matter of the political leanings of a majority of the members on the court. I hope the issue never arises in court, but it probably will.

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**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-debt-ceiling-doesnt-get-raised-how-do-they-decide-who-doesnt-get-paid/589666/42 "2011-07-22T22:45:29Z")

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I’m still not clear about who writes the congressional paychecks. I tried to Google it, but I haven’t found correct keywords. You would think think it would be easy to figure out if Congress has their own payroll office or if the Treasury department cuts the checks.

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