[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 29, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6749-S6750]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               DEBT LIMIT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, now on debt limit, of course, once we 
fund the government, we still need to address the urgent matter of 
extending the debt ceiling and preserving the full faith and credit of 
the United States.
  To paraphrase the economist Austan Goolsbee, who just met with our 
caucus this morning, throughout history, there have certainly been 
governments that have defaulted on their debt, but never has there been 
a default caused by pure stupidity--in this case, Republican stupidity.
  Well, Democrats are working to prevent such an outcome from happening 
now. Over the past week, our caucus has tried to find a workable 
solution to avoid default on our sovereign debt, but the Republicans 
have stymied us at every opportunity.
  On Monday, we considered a continuing resolution which, among other 
things, would have extended the debt ceiling until the end of 2022, 
allowing us to pay for the debt incurred by the previous 
administration. Republicans unanimously voted in favor of default.
  So, on Tuesday, we gave Republicans another chance. We offered to 
solve the debt ceiling impasse by doing exactly what Republicans 
claimed they wanted all along: Raise it with only Democratic votes. We 
gave them a chance to oppose it, like they said they would, and allow 
Democrats to solve this problem ourselves. Again, it was precisely what 
they asked for. And Leader McConnell cited this precedent several times 
in the last few days as to how to get out of the debt crisis. But once 
again, Republicans blocked that proposal in favor of default, and, 
quite frankly, no Republican provided a good answer as to why. When 
Leader McConnell came out to rebut, he didn't discuss the merits of our 
proposal. He said: We don't want Democrats going forward and doing 
other things.
  Well, this is about debt that we have already incurred, debts from 
the past, spending from the past. It is not about the future.
  If we never did debt ceiling--if we always let the debt ceiling lapse 
because

[[Page S6750]]

one party or the other didn't like some future action that the other 
party would take, we would never do it. It is an absurd argument--an 
absurd argument--because they have no real arguments because we were 
doing exactly--exactly--what Republicans have asked for: Pass it with 
your own votes.
  So Democrats have offered Republicans multiple, entirely reasonable 
ways to get out of the mess they created, but instead of stepping aside 
and letting the responsible party address the debt limit, Republicans 
have chosen to actively obstruct. Again, we are not asking for 
Republicans to support raising the debt ceiling. If they want to stop 
payments from going to veterans and Social Security recipients, be our 
guest. We are just asking for Republicans to get out of the way. Get 
out of the way, and let us do what they say they wanted us to do: Raise 
the debt ceiling without their votes.
  Time is short. The danger is real. Yesterday, the Treasury Secretary 
wrote that if the debt ceiling is not addressed by October 18, the 
government could enter a catastrophic default--catastrophic--for the 
first time in history.
  Secretary Yellen's warning was unmistakable. A default would be 
``disastrous for the American economy, global financial market and 
millions of families and workers whose financial security would be 
jeopardized by a delay in payments.'' Yet, every day, the outcome grows 
more and more likely because of Republican intransigence, because 
Republicans are deliberately preventing the government from being able 
to pay its bills.
  Now, in solving this crisis, this body cannot and will not go through 
a drawn-out, unpredictable process sought by the minority leader. It 
risks the full faith and credit of the United States. To do this 
through reconciliation requires ping-ponging separate bills back from 
the Senate and the House. It is unchartered waters. Individual Senators 
could move to delay and delay and delay. It is very risky and could 
well lead us to default, even if only one Senator wanted that to 
happen. That is very possible. So you can't do it this route. Everyone 
who has studied it knows it is risky, and it is simply a political 
gambit by Leader McConnell, who has changed his tune several different 
times. He said over and over again: Just you Democrats vote for it. We 
give them that chance. Now, he has backed off that and moved into this 
untenable excuse. It is not a real answer.
  If the Republicans really want to prevent a default like they claim 
they do, they should step aside and let Democrats do the responsible 
thing. As default gets closer and closer to becoming a reality, our 
Republican colleagues will be forced to ask themselves how long they 
are going to keep playing political games while the economic stability 
of our country is at risk. At stake is the well-being of millions of 
Americans who did not ask for any of this and would suffer immensely 
because of Republican obstruction. If Republicans choose to keep making 
this harder, if Republicans choose to drag out this process, they will 
own the consequences of their default.

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