The House spent the week voting on amendments to reduce spending. Some -- on both sides of the aisle -- complained that the cuts go too far, others maintain that the cuts don't go far enough. Those politicians complaining that the cuts go too deep are not facing up to fiscal reality. In a couple of weeks, the government will run up against its $14.3 trillion statutory debt limit. After that figure is reached, the government will not be allowed to borrow any more. And it needs to borrow a heckuva lot. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports:
Under current estimates, the federal government will have to issue an additional $738 billion in debt above the current statutory limit to finance obligations for the remainder of FY2011.
If the debt limit is not raised, we would truly have a "pay as you go" budgeting system: Congress would have to slash spending or hike taxes to achieve a balanced budget without additional borrowing. CRS describes what exactly this would mean:
... The federal government would have to eliminate all spending on discretionary programs, cut nearly 70% of outlays for mandatory programs, increase revenues by nearly two-thirds, or take some combination of those actions in the second half of FY2011 ... in order to avoid increasing the debt limit.
As Mayor "Diamond Joe" Quimby eloquently stated, "Gentlemen, it's time we face up to the un-face-up-to-able." All spending has to be on the table for review, and a scalpel is a weak tool for this job.