[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 25, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S80-S81]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              DEBT CEILING

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, as the debate over raising the debt 
ceiling continues, Leader McConnell said something yesterday that, I 
think, is right on the mark. He said that when it comes to moving a 
debt ceiling proposal through Congress, the House should go first. He 
is correct. Not only should the House go first, but they must quickly 
show the American people what their plan actually is for avoiding a 
first-ever default on the national debt. So far, we haven't heard 
anything beyond vague and troubling talking points about the need to 
cut Federal spending. That is not going to fly when you are in the 
majority, as Speaker McCarthy, of course, is. The substance and details 
make all the difference. The debt ceiling is not some political game, 
and Speaker McCarthy has an obligation to level with the American 
people on what precisely the new House plans to do in order to avoid a 
default.
  President Biden and the Speaker have reportedly agreed to sit down in 
the near future on this topic, and the Speaker is apparently heralding 
this development as some sort of big win or concession. But look, 
Speaker McCarthy sitting down without a clear plan is no win. Sitting 
down to talk about the debt ceiling without a plan is like coming to 
the table with no cards. President Biden, meanwhile, has a plan. He has 
cards. He has been clear that there must be no brinksmanship and no 
default on the debt ceiling.
  Speaker McCarthy, what about you? The House GOP is threatening 
spending cuts. Well, what are they? why the evasion? Why is your 
conference hiding from the American people?
  House Republicans, where are your cards?
  Again, I want to be clear that the debt ceiling is a subject of the 
highest consequence, and using it as a bargaining chip--using it as 
brinksmanship, as hostage-taking--as Republicans are trying to do, is 
exceedingly dangerous because if the House of Representatives continues 
on their current course and allows the United States to default on its 
debt obligations, every single American is going to pay a terrible and 
expensive price.
  The consequences of default are not some theoretical abstraction. If 
default happens, Americans will see the consequences in their daily 
lives. Interest rates will go soaring on everything from credit cards 
and student loans to cars, mortgages, and more. That is thousands of 
dollars for each American going right out the door. That will happen 
and through no fault of their own.
  Retirement plans, like 401(k)s, would lose their value, robbing 
people of their hard-earned livelihoods. For millions

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of Americans who one day dream of owning a home--their own piece of the 
rock--a default would add $130,000 to the lifetime cost of a new home. 
Imagine spending years putting a little bit of your paycheck aside 
every month in order to buy a house, only to find out that suddenly 
that dream is entirely out of reach because radical politicians in 
Washington bumbled their way into a financial catastrophe. That is 
precisely the danger we approach, thanks to the House GOP's reckless 
approach to the debt ceiling.
  None of this need be inevitable or even likely if only House 
Republicans would quit their radical posturing and work with Democrats 
in a serious way to raise the debt ceiling together, and we should do 
it soon, not months from now when America finds itself staring straight 
into the abyss of a financial catastrophe.
  I would remind my Republican colleagues they did it before, when 
Trump was President, three times, with no Democratic obstruction or 
hostage-taking, and we did it once together when Biden was President. 
Much of this debt comes from spending when Trump was President, voted 
on by a Republican House and a Republican Senate. So it is a bit of 
hypocrisy now to say that they can't do it again and are holding it 
hostage and are playing a dangerous form of brinksmanship. It shouldn't 
matter who is President. These are still bills we already incurred that 
must be paid for the good of all Americans.

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