The Hill News

Fueling the rumor that he is planning a presidential run in 2012, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) called on President Obama not to raise the national debt limit.

In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, Pawlenty, who has said he is considering a bid for the Republican nomination for President, writes that the best way to solve America's financial problems is to not raise the debt ceiling.

"Simply guaranteeing that the government will pay its outside debts would not solve our fiscal crisis," Pawlenty writes. "But it would properly frame our fiscal challenge - as a choice not between more debt and default, but between more debt and responsible spending reductions that would ensure we don't trigger a default. And by signaling to world markets tha! t the United States is serious about its fiscal situation, it would buy us time to restructure entitlement spending and end the Ponzi scheme being run by the federal government."

In the op-ed Pawlenty drew on his time as the governor of Minnesota. He argued that Minnesota solved its fiscal woes, which Pawlenty writes are somewhat similar to the country's, by capping the debt ceiling.

"It wasn't easy," Pawlenty continued in the piece. "We had government shutdowns, special legislative sessions, numerous lawsuits and one of the longest transit strikes in American history. It was a battle, but we changed the state's spending pattern dramatically."

Pawlenty concludes the piece by calling for a general reduction of government spending, including on defense.

"While national defense is obviously a top priority, even the Pentagon needs to pursue greater efficiencies by using priority budgeting to ensure that our military remains the most! capable and effective in a dangerous world. Any savings that ! are achi eved from belt-tightening at the Pentagon should be reinvested toward the most important defense needs, not redirected to pay for runaway domestic spending," Pawlenty wrote.

In recent weeks Pawlenty has been on booktour to promote his new book Courage to Stand which political observers speculate is really Pawlenty testing the waters for a presidential run.