The term “checks and balances” is almost always used wrongly, as in this article. Checks and balances are the ways the different branches of government check ea

The term “checks and balances” is almost always used wrongly, as in this article. Checks and balances are the ways the different branches of government check each other. The trillion dollar coin was a goofy proposal for the president to save Congress from itself. As you said, Congress passed the debt ceiling, then approved spending above that limit without approving ways to pay for it. And it refused to raise the debt ceiling. That’s not really part of the system of checks and balances; that’s Congress getting itself into a bind by passing legislation that can’t actually be satisfied.