raising the debt ceiling NEVER used to be "leverage" for spending cuts and raising it passed nearly unremarked every time it was done in the past and you can bet that the instant we have a Republican POTUS it will never be mentioned it again, much less used as leverage against them by Democrats. Of course, as long as Barack Obama (or any Democrat) is POTUS, the Republicans will never give it up and they seem primed for a sequel to last year's debt ceiling debacle that has now lead to their new "Fiscal Cliff" crisis.
Might as well let the President have the power to do it- since Republicans want to use it over and over again to hold the country/economy "hostage" until they finally get the cuts to Medicare/Social Security they've been lusting over. If Congress wants to cut spending, fine, they should have that debate but raising the debt ceiling is paying for stuff we've already spent. We all can't spend money on a credit card and then refuse to pay for it eventually
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