The GOP bid to ban the absurd trillion-dollar-coin trick

Liberals are floating an unorthodox plan to borrow more money without a fight over raising the debt ceiling. Conservatives are not pleased

Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) is countering the Democrat's platinum coin trick with a stunt of his own.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

With a showdown over raising the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling looming, a growing number of liberals are urging President Obama to play hardball and simply borrow more money without asking for Congress' permission. One implausible but increasingly popular proposal: Obama should just tell the Treasury Department to use its authority to mint coins, stamp out one or two platinum pieces worth $1 trillion, then plunk them into the government's coffers to provide what's needed to continue paying the bills. Republicans, of course, are putting their collective foot down. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) is introducing a bill that would ban Obama from using the platinum coin option, calling the trick an "absurd and dangerous" way to balance the federal government's books.

Walden's bill won't become law, says Allahpundit at Hot Air. It might pass the Republican-controlled House, but then it would be "DOA in the Senate," where Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats run things. Still, "the point isn't to get it passed, it's to give it enough attention" to force Obama to explain why his allies are discussing such a nutty scheme with a straight face.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.