[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 14 (Monday, January 23, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S44-S45]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Debt Ceiling

  Madam President, we must pay our Nation's bills. We all agree with 
that. Using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to force deep cuts in 
Social Security and Medicare is unacceptable. Pushing through other 
extreme changes that can't pass on their own merits ought to be 
unthinkable; yet this is what the MAGA extremists in the House appear 
hell-bent on doing.
  I would remind those who want to pose for holy pictures as budget 
balancers that one-fourth--almost one-fourth--of our entire national 
debt that has been accumulated in the United States over the last 230 
years was racked up during the 4 years that Donald Trump was in the 
White House--almost one-fourth of our national debt. What we are doing 
with

[[Page S45]]

the debt ceiling now is paying for Donald Trump's priorities voted for 
by Congress and the Republicans. It is the responsible thing to do.
  Even in their policies, such as tax breaks for the wealthiest people 
in the country, the fact is it was enacted into law, and we have a 
responsibility, in preserving the good faith and credit of the United 
States, to extend the debt limit even for those policies which I 
personally disagree with. The Republicans moved to raise the debt 
ceiling three times during the Trump administration, and the Democrats 
supported them every time.
  We don't want to turn America into a deadbeat nation. Defaulting on 
our national debt for the first time in history, as the MAGA 
Republicans are threatening in the House, would throw millions of 
Americans out of work. According to a think tank, the Third Way, a 
worker with a 401(k) retirement account could lose $20,000 because of 
interest rates, and a new 30-year mortgage would cost an additional 
$130,000. How many people would be willing to buy a new home or a new 
car facing those circumstances? Borrowing would become harder and more 
expensive, and the national debt would increase by $850 million just 
from our failure to extend the debt limit.

  Abraham Lincoln once said, ``We cannot escape history,'' warning 
Congress and a nation torn apart by a civil war. Thank God we are not 
facing anything like that today, but we are facing deep divisions and 
continued assaults on our democracy.
  So as we begin this new Congress, we need to ask ourselves: What do 
we want history to say about this Senate during the next 2 years? Will 
we be remembered for chaos or consensus? Will we work to heal the 
divisions in our Nation or deepen them? Will we solve the problems that 
really matter to the American people or invent problems and stoke them 
for political advantage?
  My Democratic colleagues and I are hopeful that there will be a 
positive answer to those questions, that we can negotiate and work 
together in good faith for a better America.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alabama.