[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1149-S1150]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Debt Ceiling

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, preserving the full faith and credit of 
the United States is one of the most important responsibilities that 
Members of Congress face. It requires cooperation, bipartisanship, and 
leaders who can instill confidence and calm to markets and working 
families alike.
  But I cannot think of a worse message to send to the world than for 
Speaker McCarthy to travel all the way to New York, look Wall Street in 
the eye, and threaten that the United States will default on its debt 
unless Republicans get spending cuts first.
  Why the Speaker traveled all the way to New York to give a speech 
that offered nothing new in substance or concept but the same dangerous 
message--different than what we have done in the past--is beyond me. If 
Speaker McCarthy continues in this direction, the United States is 
likely headed toward default.
  But do you know what will avoid default? Republicans working with 
Democrats to avoid this crisis--all together--just as we did under 
Donald Trump.
  The Speaker has insisted for months on cuts, though he has failed to 
offer any clarity about what kind of cuts Republicans want. House GOP 
leadership is presenting their wish list to their Members at a closed 
meeting this morning. No one should confuse this wish list as anything 
more than a recycling of the same bad ideas we have heard about for 
weeks, and it is still not clear that Speaker McCarthy has the votes to 
even pass this. Indeed, a handful of House GOP Members insist they 
won't raise the debt ceiling for anything, not even a GOP wish list.
  One of the few specific items is the Speaker's laughable suggestion--
and it is laughable--that we avoid default for only a year, ensuring 
that this dangerous crisis repeats itself in 12 months. Why the Speaker 
thinks anyone--anyone--would agree to have another debt ceiling crisis 
next year is beyond me.
  Nobody is saying that there cannot be a conversation about what kind 
of cuts Republicans want, but it doesn't belong in this debate, plain 
and simple. It belongs in discussions over the budget that Congress has 
every year and not as a precondition to avoiding default.
  So let me make this easy for my Republican colleagues. Don't bother 
with partisan wish lists and unrealistic proposals that will never 
solve this debt

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default crisis. Instead, avoid default using the same approach we did 
under President Trump twice and under President Biden once: Democrats 
and Republicans, working together, without preconditions. If 
Republicans agree to that, there will be no default.