Let's have a real debate on debt level

If one accepts the proposition that the escalating federal debt is a threat to the prosperity of the country and inimical to the national interest then Congress is obligated not to raise the debt limit. Rather than raise the limit Congress should decide which government goods and services the country can do without and not fund any part of them. Congressman Paul Ryan has produced a budget that will balance sometime in the indefinite future but Senator Rand Paul would cut half a trillion in the first year. Paul's budget would terminate the Departments of Energy, Education, Housing and Urban Development and most of Labor and the beauty is the average American would not even miss them.
Paul first introduced his budget in 2011. It got only 7 votes in the Senate. Obama's budget, on the other hand got no votes, crashing in a 97 to 0 defeat. Other agency that would go under the knife in Paul's budget would be the the Corporation for Public Broadcast, 100% cut, National Endowment for the Arts, cut 100%, Consumer products Safety Commission, cut 100%.
According to a recent ABC-Washington Post poll only 46% of the public want to raise the debt limit while 43% oppose doing so. Let's get this straight. Not borrowing more money is not the same thing as welching on one's debts. Default is not the logical result of not raising the debt ceiling. As long as interest is paid on the debt and Social Security and Medicare payments are made there is no default. As both of these programs bring in significant cash and have over 2 trillion in the trust funds they would remain solvent for years. Eventually they will both go broke if benefits are not adjusted to revenues but no faster absent a rise in debt level.
At the very least the Republicans should insist on the complete elimination of one or more departments as a sign that Obama is willing to bargain in good faith.