House Democrats introduce bill to eliminate the debt ceiling

Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Jim Moran (D-VA) have introduced legislation to completely eliminate the federal debt ceiling, but the bill has little chance of survival with Republicans in control of the House.

"The debt ceiling is truly arbitrary and has nothing to do with the deficit," Nadler said in a statement. "The debt ceiling does not prevent the United States from incurring new debts, but has become a cudgel with which Republicans are holding our economy hostage and punishing the millions of Americans who are struggling."

Public opinion of Congress plummeted after the contentious federal debt ceiling debate in July. According to a CBS News/New York Times poll released shortly after the debt ceiling bill was signed into law, 72 percent disapproved of how Republicans in Congress handled the debate, and 66 percent of Americans disapproved of how Democrats handled it.

The poll was conducted on August 2 and 3, immediately after lawmakers and the president reached an agreement to would raise the debt ceiling until 2013 and cut the federal deficit by about $2.1 trillion over a 10-year period.

The three Democrats proposed the bill, the The Full Faith and Credit Act, to prevent Republicans from using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to demand budget cuts.

“Republicans in Congress undermined the economy and faith in the country by threatening to force default,” said Johnson. “The Full Faith & Credit Act will prevent politicians from holding the nation’s credit hostage ever again.”