House agrees to extend debt ceiling

Last Friday, the House leadership convinced their caucus to raise to the debt ceiling for three months. In order to do this, the house will require a budget resolution from the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Obviously a three month fix is less than ideal, but I think this is a HUGE step in the right direction. Previously, Boehner was claiming that all raises to the debt ceiling would have to be matched by 1:1 spending cuts. This was a toxic rule that lead to the U.S. narrowly avoiding defaulting on its debt, and put in motion a series of high-stakes budgetary showdowns.

The new plan returns the debt ceiling to its rightful use--attempting to embarrass the other party and score political points. Hopefully in a few cycles Congress will fully return to its 2010 equilibrium--doing nothing to help the economy. This would be a huge improvement over the 2011-12 dynamic of setting up fake crises that actively harm the economy and delay the recovery.