Congress keeps proposing this fiscal fix but never votes on it

(The Center Square) – A Republican bill to force spending cuts alongside any debt-limit increase has been introduced in six of the seven Congresses since 2013. As standalone legislation, it has never once reached a vote.

When the bill first appeared in 2013, the national debt stood near $16 trillion. It has since more than doubled, to $40 trillion. Interest on that debt now runs more than $1 trillion a year, the government's third-largest spending category, behind only Social Security and Medicare, according to the Congressional Budget Office. All three major credit-rating agencies have downgraded the U.S. from their top rating. The measure meant to address that keeps returning and keeps going nowhere.