Just Lift the Debt Ceiling!

Larry Kudlow and The New Republic like the Gang of Six plan. Keith Hennessey does not. 

Obviously some people here are kidding themselves. And isn't that just inevitable when plans are being cobbled together by weary legislators working long hours in a summer heatwave? It's only asking for trouble to make long-term fiscal policy in this slapdash way, with the threat of fiscal armageddon overhanging us all.

We have budget processes for a reason. We don't threaten defaults also for a reason. Can't we all have a cold glass of water, recover perspective, and retrace our steps so as to avoid either triggering a catastrophe or else committing ourselves to long-term frameworks full of details few understand or appreciate.

I know this won't happen, but how about this alternative:

Lift the damn debt ceiling now. Period.

Then resume the budget process in the full light of public scrutiny, with an aim to restraining future government spending, holding the line on taxes, and reducing budget deficits as the economy returns to health. The House has passed a budget. Let Senate do the same. Go to reconciliation. Do normal politics. No more of the fiscal equivalent of live-fire exercises with nuclear weapons.