There is a simple legislative fix for all of this country's fake veto point and legislative hostage taking problems. It will rescue us from what we have already lost in the recent budget ceiling debacle, and, more importantly, will completely prevent all future budget hostage taking.
Congress just has to pass a law that says that the annual budget bills mean what the unsophisticated observer might imagine that they mean already -- that if they say a spending obligation is the law of the land, then it is just that, the law of the land. This law would clarify that Treasury has the authority and responsibility to borrow as much as it has to in order to meet all of the spending obligated by law in the annual budget bills.