Trying to keep this as factual as possible. A man on the TV claimed it would be possible to pay the interest on the debt, social security, and the military (not sure if he just meant salary or all obligations) without raising the debt ceiling. How valid is this claim?
And if so, what spending would the US renege of to get by without a higher debt ceiling?
This is likely referring to the bill introduced by King, Bachman, and Gohmert. It’s somewhat true in that not raising the debt ceiling doesn’t mean that the US can’t pay ANY of it’s bills, it just means it can’t borrow any more money, so it can’t pay more than it takes in per month. I don’t know what that figure is, or what it can cover before borrowing is needed.
Their bill says that debt payment and military salary payments should have priority over everything else. So, the various programs that Repubs don’t like would get defunded of course.
Would be a good exercise in what the US citizenry consider “necessary” payments. I’m guessing “anything that affects me” is what’s deemed “necessary”.
It’s partially valid. There is enough revenue to pay a good portion of federal outlays every month.
Social Security is a bit trickier, because it has a separate funding mechanism that requires selling US debt held in the trust fund if inflows are less than outlays (which they currently are). This intra-government debt is counted in the debt limit. Whether there are legal financial ways around this I don’t know.
That is the question. Actually, that’s part of the question. The bigger question, in my mind, is who gets to decide? Congress has passed multiple laws that require funding from the treasury. There is also lots of mandatory spending, again defined by law. There is also the debt limit law. Oh, and the Constitutional obligation to service all debt. Something has to give, and it’s not at all clear what that will be.
Many services would have to shut down completely, obviously, if you want to send all revenue to the programs you have listed above.
Keep in mind that while some federal programs are funded from one particular pot (and supporting legislation), the administration of that program may come from a different pot (and supporting legislation).
So while social security funds come from one pot that may not be subject to a delay in raising the debt ceiling, SSA federal employees may be subject to debt ceiling restrictions under the Antideficiency Act (ADA) or similar laws. In otrher words, the SS cash may be available if the debt ceiling is not raised by the deadline, but the federal employees may be prohibited from working to disburse those funds.
FWIW, I’m hoping SSA, TSA, FAA and USDA food inspectors are subject to the ADA.
Who was the man, what exactly was his claim, and on what program did you see this?