On the recordNovember 17, 2011
I thank the gentleman. Furthermore, House Joint Resolution 2 would require a three-fifths majority to raise the debt ceiling. This would only increase the likelihood of a catastrophic debt default like the one we barely avoided this summer. Given the polarization that we're currently experiencing, I have severe doubts that the required supermajority could be secured either to respond to crises or to raise the debt ceiling. This would give preference to military action over economic crises, requiring only a majority for deficit spending for a war--such as the Iraq war, which was never paid for--but a three-fifths majority to respond to a domestic economic crisis. If this were enacted in 2012, it would require drastic cuts that would have unintended, but dire, consequences for our struggling economy. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has again expired.
