Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn, announces that his Full Faith and Credit Act – explainer of what it is here and here – has been filed as an amendment to the FAA funding bill*. That’s going to put senators on the record, but with 18 Republican co-sponsors (every freshman, I notice, except Rob Portman and Dan Coats) and no Democratic support, it’s unlikely that it will pass. The text, one more time:
In the event that the debt of the United States Government, as defined in section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, reaches the statutory limit, the authority of the Department of the Treasury provided in section 3123 of title 31, United States Code, to pay with legal tender the principal and interest on debt held by the public shall take priority over all other obligations incurred by the Government of the United States.
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Ca., has introduced a companion bill in the House, which has only 15 co-sponsors so far. Treasury has virulently criticized this idea, but I think Toomey’s op-ed launching the concept and his speech to the Tea Party Caucus got at the point of this – making it impossible for the press to “nail” Republicans by saying they’ll be at fault if the debt ceiling doesn’t rise and the temple collapses.
*The FAA funding bill also contains the amendment that would repeal all of “ObamaCare,” and an amendment to roll back the hated 1099 requirements in the health care bill. The latter amendment is somewhat likely to pass. But all of this is leading to an amusingly disjointed debate, swinging wildly between
