Congressman Jim Himes told a group of Hartford business leaders Thursday that Congress is “playing with fire” by debating whether to increase the debt ceiling.
Himes, D-4th, said hesitation puts the full faith and credit of the U.S. government in jeopardy.
“We have to do the hard work,” he said. “We shouldn’t be governing by ultimatum.”
Himes, at an event hosted by the MetroHartford Alliance and the New England Council, said it doesn’t make sense that members of Congress can vote to cut taxes or increase spending and then vote against raising the debt ceiling – a change necessitated by their previous decisions on taxes and spending.
“It is an absurd proposition,” he said. “If this were just a cute absurdity I wouldn’t care.”
He said threats to vote against the debt-ceiling increase are “lifting up the specter of a default.”
Himes said all bills that would affect the government’s need to issue debt should include a provision to change the debt ceiling accordingly.
He said after a little more than two years in Washington he is “pleased and optimistic and feeling pretty good about our system of government.”
“Yes there are bad apples,” he said, and “people well past their sell-by date.”
“I come out of this pretty pleased by the quality of people who serve you.”
Himes said he understands why only 17 percent of people approve of Congress and, as a former employee of Goldman Sachs, he is used to working for institutions with low approval ratings.
He said institutions that should be trusted, including banks, regulators and the government, failed during the financial crisis. Average Americans balked at losing their jobs and homes while bankers got bailouts and bonuses, Himes said.
“I represent Fairfield County so I’m under no illusion that I represent average Americans in my district,” Himes said parenthetically. “I mean, I have some.”
He said the breach of trust and failure of the elite created “white, hot anger.”
Himes said Americans want a “superb system of education,” infrastructure, efficient courts, an effective military. “We want all that and really, really low taxes.” He said some politicians try to convince Americans they can have all that, but he prefers a more responsible approach.
“Here’s the good news. The discussion is maturing and becoming more adult.”
Himes said Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who released a plan called The Path to Prosperity, President Barack Obama and the Simpson-Bowles plan put forward by Obama’s deficit commission have all contributed to this change.
“I disagree with Congressman Ryan’s proposal on a number of points,” he said, but “we’re now talking about the whole shooting match.”
Himes said he would vote for the Simpson-Bowles package, but he noted that none of his House colleagues on the commission voted for it while all the senators on the commission did. He said it was a function of “who runs, how often.”
“Everything in there makes people angry,” he said, referring to the spending cuts and tax increases in the plan. “There will be casualties. I could be one of them.”
He said Simpson-Bowles includes “frankly reasonable tweaks” to Social Security, including raising the retirement age by one year over 40 years. However, he said the plan wasn’t specific enough on how it would save money in Medicare.
Himes said Ryan’s proposal is very specific when it comes to Medicare where it suggests a “breathtaking” switch to a voucher system.
“That would certainly shift the risk away from the federal government,” he explained, but “it’s a little bit lazy” since government doesn’t even try to address rising Medicare costs under the Ryan plan.
Himes said he has no doubts that the country will fix its fiscal problems. “It’s absolutely going to happen.”
He said the only question is whether it is done voluntarily over the next couple years or in the face of a crisis, such as a failed Treasury auction.
Himes said he welcomed Standard & Poor’s changing the long-term outlook of U.S. Government debt from stable to negative because it puts apolitical pressure on Washington to agree on a plan for fixing the deficit.