There is absolutely no risk that the United States will default on the national debt, unless President Joe Biden takes this unprecedented, disastrous step in order to sock it to his enemies, “the mega-MAGA Republicans.”
Revenues pouring into the U.S. Treasury provide more than seven times the funds needed to pay interest to America’s creditors. If those bondholders miss their interest payments, which is what default looks like, it will be because that’s what Biden and the Democrats want.
Will hitting the debt limit force Washington to make tough choices?
Top Democrats terrorize the American people and vandalize global financial markets with irresponsible lies about eminent default. This vicious mendacity fuels economic uncertainty and needless biting of fingernails.
The GOP House last week adopted legislation to increase the national debt ceiling and obviate any prospective default. In exchange, it would roll federal spending all the way back to levels unseen since 2022. It then would restrain future expenditure growth to 1 percent per year. This bill would claw back unused COVID-19 funds, add work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal welfare programs, and vacate Biden’s $500 billion student-loan bailout decree.
“House Republicans did their job and passed a responsible bill that raises the debt ceiling, avoids default, and tackles reckless spending,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) stated.
In return, Biden trashed the GOP’s leadership on this issue.
“We pay our bills, and we should do so without reckless hostage-taking from some of the MAGA Republicans in Congress,” Biden growled. He said Monday that America must “make sure the threat by the Speaker of the House to default on the national debt is off the table.”
Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, claimed Wednesday that “MAGA Republicans” aim to “take our economy hostage with the default.”
Not to be outdone by the White House’s giant lies, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also spooked the American people.
“[A] default on our obligations would cause an economic and financial catastrophe,” Yellen said. “A breach of the debt ceiling could lead to a prolonged downturn and a global financial crisis. And it could upend the lives of millions of Americans and those around the world.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement designed to frighten Americans even further.
“It’s time to put aside partisan interests and do what is right and necessary for the American people to avoid a first-ever U.S. government default that crashes the stock market, raises costs on families and jeopardizes retirement savings,” the New Yorkers declared.
This default talk is deceitful rubbish.
The national debt is like a credit card balance. Imagine that Jack owes $5,000 on his Visa card. He would not default if he failed to pay all $5,000 by month’s end. He only would default if he did not pay his monthly minimum of, say, $200. If Jack sent Visa $200 before June 1, default would not happen.
America’s national “credit card” balance is massive, and Uncle Sam needs to stop charging one item after another on it. But the idea that he cannot pay his monthly minimum is a lie. Biden, Yellen, Schumer, Jeffries, and other free-spending leftists need to stop lying to the contrary.
Yellen’s own department proves her and her comrades wrong.
Twelve times annually, the Monthly Treasury Statement details Washington’s tax revenues, government expenditures, and national borrowing. It is the quintessence of transparency.
The latest 12 statements, from April 2022 to March 2023, show that the Treasury collected $4,822,458,000,000 in federal receipts. These $4.82 trillion were far more than enough to avoid default by covering net-interest payments of $564,464,000,000. The former revenues totaled 754 percent of the amount needed to pay U.S bondholders the $564.44 billion that Uncle Sam promised.
In other words, net-interest payments equal just 11.7 percent of the money that landed in the U.S. Treasury in the 12 months that ended last March 30. This amount varies month by month. Last September, net-interest commitments equaled just 0.74 percent of the Treasury’s monthly haul. March was the tightest month. But even then, the $66.53 billion in debt payments equaled 21.2 percent of $313.24 billion in receipts.
So long as Yellen pays bondholders first — before spending a dime on windmills, gas-stove prohibition, grade-school genital mutilation, or any other Democrat fetish — then default is a non-starter.
Sen. Rick Scott’s Full Faith and Credit Act would mandate that the Treasury pay bondholders first. The Florida Republican’s legislation essentially would make default a federal crime. He should recruit a House member to sponsor a companion measure and ask McCarthy to bring it to the House floor and then send it to the Senate.
The Democrat Senate then could pass it, forward it to Biden for signature, and finally give the default bogeyman a decent burial. If not, if America ever defaults, it would be 100 percent the Democrats’ fault.
Will hitting the debt limit force Washington to make tough choices? Yes. But there is sufficient revenue to keep default a choice, not a requirement, unless Biden chooses to drive America over a cliff, shaft bondholders, and blame “DonaldTrump” and “Jan. 6 Republicans.” This seems like something the execrable Biden would perpetrate.
The president finally will hold debt-ceiling discussions with top congressional leaders on May 9. Those vital talks should proceed honestly and without the Democrats’ Niagara Falls of lies about a pending American default.
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor.
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