At first it just seemed a bit stupid and a bit wrong. Then the more I thought about it, I came to think that it was not only stupid and wrong but possibly unconstitutional. Or maybe just outdated by more recent laws
Congress has the legislative power (see Article I of the U.S. Constitution). They make the laws. They say what will be spent and appropriate the funds. They would borrow money if needed. Then the Executive Branch carries out the law (see Article II). A simple division of responsibilities. It was designed by the Founding Fathers, enshrined in our Constitution, and worked well for over 100 years.
But Congress tried to improve things. They passed a debt ceiling law which gave borrowing to the Executive branch which did make life a lot simpler for Congress. But they blocked the Executive branch from exceeding a certain amount of debt for any reason unless Congress agreed to raise the debt ceiling. It seemed kind of stupid but since the debt ceiling was always increased before it was exceeded, it did not seem to be a major problem.
But now that Congress is using the threat of not raising the debt ceiling to prevent the Executive branch from paying our debts and for executing laws passed by Congress. This non-approval would certainly lower the credit rating of the United States, greatly increasing the cost of government and have wide economic repercussions hurting many Americans.
It is also possibly unconstitutional. I say possibly since I am neither a lawyer or constitutional scholar.
I can think of 2 things that might raise it to this level. One is Section 4 of the 14th Amendment which says in part that these debts shall not be questioned. By not approving an unconditional increase, is Congress questioning our debt? The other issue is that Article I gives Congress the authority of borrow money but in the debt ceiling law Congress seems to give that right to the Executive subject to just one condition. I am not sure if they can do that without going through the Amendment process. But what do I know?
I am more confident about stupid and wrong.