Tucked away in the rules that House Democrats rolled out at the beginning of the 116th Congress is a provision that temporarily suspends the debt limit if the House of Representatives passes a budget resolution. The provision is what’s known as a self-executing rule. This may be legislative inside baseball, but it's a rather radical change to the rules that differs from even from a similar rule employed in the past.

The bill would blatantly disregard the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 that requires Congress to adhere to budget caps – This bill goes above and beyond, busting the caps by nearly $300 billion over two years, more than twice that of the past two, two-year deals combined

The House and Senate are in session this week.

September may be the busiest month of 2017 for Congress. There is a long list of must-pass legislation on the agenda, including the debt limit and appropriations for at least part of FY 2018, when Congress reconvenes on Tuesday, September 5. The calendar, however, isn't kind. There are only 12 legislative days scheduled in the House and 17 in the Senate.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to support the Debt Ceiling Alternative Act, H.R. 3167, introduced by Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.). The bill would bring responsible debt management when the federal government reaches its borrowing limit.

As Congress approaches the debt ceiling debate, conservatives in both chambers should look for outside-the-box approaches to address federal spending. It's simply not enough to make cuts to nondefense discretionary spending, which, over the next ten years, represents less than 13 percent of all federal outlays. Mandatory spending, or direct spending, however, represents nearly 65 percent of outlays and is what is largely driving deficits higher.

FreedomWorks is happy to announce that the Debt Limit Control and Accountability Act, H.R. 1529, introduced by Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) was selected as the Bill of the Month for May. The bill is co-sponsored by House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. It would put spending restrictions in place to hold our government accountable regarding financial decisions.

The ever-shifting horizon on when the federal government is scheduled to reach its borrowing limit has most recently been set at November 3rd, just days after John Boehner is scheduled to resign his office. What this means is that no new leadership will save us from yet another increase in the debt ceiling, although there will always be a principled few who will want to resist.