Obama signs debt ceiling measure into law

March 11, 2022

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) — President Barack Obama on
Saturday signed separate measures into law to lift the federal debt
limit and restore benefits that had been cut for younger military
retirees.
Obama signed the bills during a weekend golf vacation in Southern California.
The
debt limit measure allows the government to borrow money to pay its
bills, such as Social Security benefits and federal salaries. Failure to
pass the measure, which the Senate passed 67-31 earlier this week and
sent to Obama for his signature, most likely would have sent the stock
market into a nosedive.
The Treasury Department is now free to
borrow regularly through March 15, 2015, meaning lawmakers won’t have to
revisit the issue until a new Congress is sworn in after the November
elections.
Separate legislation passed in December would have held
annual cost-of-living increases for veterans age 62 and younger to 1
percentage point below the rate of inflation, beginning in 2015. The
measure was designed to hold the line on the soaring cost of government
benefit programs, which have largely escaped trillions of dollars in
deficit cuts over the past three years.
The cuts were enacted less
than two months ago, with a projected savings to the government of $7
billion over a decade. Veterans groups and some lawmakers said the cut
was a mistake, and they began campaigning to have the benefits restored.
The
pensions go to veterans who retire after 20 years of service,
regardless of their age. Nearly 2 million retirees currently are
eligible, including about 840,000 under age 62, according to the
Pentagon.
For a sergeant first class who leaves the service at age
42 after two decades, the bill passed in December would have meant an
estimated $72,000 in reduced pension payments.
Quick action by
lawmakers on this year’s debt limit bill stands in contrast to lengthy
showdowns in 2012 and last fall, when Republicans sought to use the
must-pass bill as leverage to win concessions from Obama. They succeeded
in 2011, winning about $2 trillion in spending cuts. But Obama has been
unwilling to negotiate over the debt limit since his re-election in
2012.
The bill he signed Saturday is the third consecutive debt measure to pass Congress without concessions
from the White House.
Republicans
also have been less confrontational since a 16-day partial government
shutdown last October sent the party’s poll numbers skidding.
Both bills were flown out to Obama in California late Friday night, a White House aide said.
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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

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