[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 163 (Tuesday, September 21, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6557-S6558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, yesterday, Speaker Pelosi and I put in 
motion the path to pass a continuing resolution that in one fell swoop 
would accomplish four very important things. It would keep the 
government open through December 3 of this year and avoid a needless 
and dangerous shutdown. It would provide emergency funding to help 
resettle Afghan evacuees; it would approve tens of billions of dollars 
in disaster aid funding; and it will suspend the debt ceiling until 
December of 2022, commensurate with the time necessary to cover the 
debt of the bipartisan $908 billion emergency COVID-relief bill passed 
at the end of last year.
  Now, today, I want to spend some time focusing on the last of these 
items, addressing the debt limit to avoid a first-ever default in 
American history.
  Throughout modern history, addressing the debt ceiling has 
consistently been done on a bipartisan basis. Let me repeat that. 
Throughout modern history, addressing the debt ceiling has consistently 
been done on a bipartisan basis. Since 1960, the debt ceiling has been 
raised approximately 80 times under both Republican and Democratic 
administrations and under both unified and divided government. So much 
for the argument by Leader McConnell that when all three branches are 
controlled by one party, the debt ceiling ought to be their exclusive 
domain. That is not what history has shown, and that is not what 
happened actually in 2017 when Donald Trump was President, McConnell 
was majority leader, and McCarthy was Republican Speaker--I believe it 
was McCarthy back then--but the debt ceiling was renewed bipartisan.
  To do otherwise, to not do the debt ceiling in a bipartisan way, has 
been considered unthinkable because the consequences for the economy, 
for the American people, and for our standing on the world stage would 
be too severe.
  Senate Republicans and the Republican leader, however, are again 
engaging in fantastical feats of sophistry to justify why this time is 
somehow different. We know it is not. We all know the truth. Democrats 
and Republicans both had a hand in approving the spending we now must 
pay.
  Look, we know the Republican justification for forcing a default is 
totally dishonest, plain and simple. Don't ask me; just listen to the 
Wall Street Journal. Here is what it said:

       Congress would still need to raise the debt limit this fall 
     even if no new major spending programs were enacted.

  This idea that they don't want to raise the debt ceiling to deal with 
future spending is just totally false. Ask the Wall Street Journal.
  The fact is, our continuing resolution would suspend the debt limit 
through December of 2022, an amount of time commensurate with the debt 
incurred as a result of passing the bipartisan $908 billion emergency 
COVID relief legislation in December of last year. Remember, that 
legislation was drafted by Republicans, voted for by Republicans, and 
put on the floor by Leader McConnell, who voted for it, and signed by a 
Republican President. Democrats worked with our colleagues to pass this 
bill because it was the right thing to do for our families, our

[[Page S6558]]

small businesses, and suffering communities.
  Our CR is now carefully tailored--carefully tailored--to account for 
this debt. This is as reasonable as it gets. So for Republicans to 
suddenly throw their hands in the air and abscond from their 
responsibility to pay debt that they proudly supported is nothing short 
of a dine-and-dash of historic proportions.
  Republicans racked trillions of dollars of debt under President Trump 
and are demanding American families foot the bill. What will this do? 
It could stop payments to Social Security recipients. It could stop 
payments to veterans. It could raise interest rates, making a mortgage 
or car loan more expensive. It could cause local governments to pay 
more in interest, and that might mean increased taxes for people. This 
is playing with fire. Playing games with the debt ceiling is playing 
with fire and putting it on the backs of the American people.
  Of course, there is a very quick and easy way to make sure we avoid 
all of this from becoming even a possibility. Republicans simply don't 
have to vote to force a default. It is that simple.
  Democrats will do the right thing and the responsible thing when the 
continuing resolution comes for a vote on the floor. We will see who 
among the Republican conference will do likewise.

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