Max Baucus: “Ralph Waldo Emerson enjoined: Pay every debt as if God wrote the bill. Today, we will debate whether the United States…”

“Ralph Waldo Emerson enjoined: Pay every debt as if God wrote the bill. Today, we will debate whether the United States continues to pay its bills. We will debate whether the United States will continue to pay the interest it owes on the money it has borrowed. The spending laws that created the current national debt are behind us. The only question that remains is whether the government will honor its obligation to pay the bill. We have gone to the restaurant, we have eaten the meal, the waiter has delivered the check, and now the only question is whether we will pay the check. To state the question is to answer it: We simply must do so. We must pay the check for the bill, for the restaurant, for the meal we have eaten. The legislation before us would increase the limit on the amount of money the U.S. Treasury can borrow. If Congress does not enact this legislation, and soon, then the Treasury would default on its debt for the first time in history.”