Economist Stephen Moore told Newsmax on Wednesday that raising the nation's debt ceiling could become a "recipe for national bankruptcy."
"This debt ceiling is really the most important vote," Moore said during "Rob Schmitt Tonight" on Wednesday. "This is insanity. It is a recipe for national bankruptcy."
Moore said the national debt was $1 trillion when he came to Washington, D.C., in 1984, and that has ballooned to more than $32 trillion now.
"Somebody show me any country in the history of the world that has been able to borrow and spend their way to prosperity," he said. "Republicans have to take a very hard line on this."
The debt ceiling was initially created in 1917 to make it easier to raise the money needed to fight in World War I by allowing the U.S. government the ability to issue bonds in mass instead of approving each individually, The Washington Post reported earlier this month.
It gave the U.S. Treasury the ability and latitude to issue bonds to fund World War II; and raising the limit has been usually routinely approved when needed, except in recent years when it became more political, according to the report.
Not raising the limit by its deadline has resulted in two government shutdowns, in 1994 and 1996; and a 2011 dispute on raising the limit resulted in Standard & Poor's to downgrade the government's credit rating for the first time in history, the report said.
According to the report, the current limit is just under $31.4 trillion and will likely be reached sometime in the next year.
While the U.S. Treasury could use some tricks to hold off national debt default for a few months, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wants the limit increased until after the next presidential election in 2024.
Republicans want to see cuts to spending tied to any increase, while Democrats in Congress do not seem willing to put in the time to pass the increase by a simple majority through its budget reconciliation mechanism before the new Republican majority takes control of the House, the report said.
Moore said it is like a person with a lot of debt trying to borrow more money from a bank to pay his obligations.
"Do you think the bank is just going to give you a loan without you changing your behavior?" Moore asked. "You have to have a plan."
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