It’s Time to Put a Brake on the Debt-Ceiling Charade

The debt-ceiling charade is upon us again. The U.S. will hit its debt ceiling on Thursday. Treasury secretary Janet Yellen warns us that without increasing it by June, the U.S. will not have sufficient funds to pay its bills.

Meanwhile, House speaker Kevin McCarthy and his Republican colleagues float the idea of debt prioritization, instructing the Treasury to first prioritize debt-service payments, then Social Security, Medicare, and veterans’ benefits, and finally military funding. These budgetary gimmicks were also floated during the debt-ceiling standoff in 2011 and 2013 but were never enacted. It is...