Why Not Just Say, 'Congress Voted to Pay the Government's Bills'?

   "Why do they keep calling it a debt ceiling?" asks a reader in the online comments below an editorial.
    I agree. It would be more telling of what is happening to simply say Congress authorized payment of debts, or voted to pay our debts -- simple language that conveys the action being taken. It is true there is a limit on how much debt we can have, and we have to raise that ceiling in order to pay our debts, but the payment of debts is the essence of what is happening and that can be lost when the phrase, "raised the debt ceiling," leads off the story. I wonder if news outlets would be conveying the news more accurately if, on first mention, they simply said the nation agreed to pay its bills, saving the term "debt ceiling" for later in the story when it could be explained.
   And let me add this: I even wonder if some members of Congress -- though surely they know what is going on -- are subliminally influenced by "debt ceiling" and more inclined to vote against paying our bills because of that language. Of course they don't want to raise our debt. Of course they don't want to go further in debt. So, they make that connection. Does the barrage of using "debt ceiling" and the connection it has to the act they oppose affect their vote, even though they should know better?