[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 25, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1322-S1323]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Debt Ceiling

  Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Mr. President, for months, the American people have 
demanded House Republicans stop their hostage-taking and show us a plan 
to avoid default.
  Last week, House Republicans failed in their assignment yet again. 
Speaker McCarthy rolled out a wish list straight out of the Freedom 
Caucus playbook. It might as well be called the ``Default on America 
Act'' because that is exactly what it is: DOA.
  Instead of doing what both sides have done many times before--
avoiding default without preconditions--Speaker McCarthy and House 
Republicans want to force working Americans to accept either a punch to 
the gut or a blow to the head. Either the United States defaults on 
national debt for the first time in American history or MAGA 
Republicans get their way and America defaults on everything else--on 
our future and our security, on our promise to care for veterans and 
law enforcement and the American middle class. Either way, Republicans 
are promising real pain for American families when they bring their 
Default on America Act to the House floor this week. According to one 
study by Moody's Analytics, the DOA could send us into a damaging 
recession.

  So let me say it one more time. What Republicans released last week 
was not so much a plan as it was a threat to default on America. Either 
we default on the national debt or we default on everything else 
through extreme cuts that will harm millions of people. That is so 
unpopular with the American people that the Republican House has had to 
hide it.

[[Page S1323]]

  For all of the GOP's lipservice about public safety, the House DOA 
Act defaults on America's law enforcement and first responders. Nearly 
30,000 law enforcement jobs across the country would be cut under the 
Republicans' DOA Act. Over $8 billion in funding for the DOJ would be 
eliminated. Donald Trump called for Republicans to defund law 
enforcement, and now it looks like House Republicans are following 
through.
  But that is just the start. The House Default on America Act would 
also spell disaster for American families and American healthcare. 
Parents who struggle affording childcare would see over 100,000 
childcare slots eliminated under the GOP proposal, preventing moms and 
dads from getting a job or finishing their education since they can't 
afford to pick up their kids in daycare. Over 21 million Americans 
would be at risk of losing their health coverage--21 million Americans 
losing health coverage--while hospitals would see billions in funding 
disappear. Hospitals, patient groups, doctors--you name it, they are 
all coming out in droves to oppose this measure.
  We just endured a global pandemic that claimed the lives of over 1 
million Americans, and House Republicans want to cut funding for 
healthcare and hospitals? Utterly revolting.
  But the damage isn't just limited to American families. The 
Republican DOA Act would cripple America's ability to stay ahead of the 
Chinese Communist Party.
  After all the work we did last year on CHIPS and Science, the 
Republican bill would slash billions--billions--from cutting-edge 
research and prevent us from fully implementing CHIPS and Science. The 
damage would be measured in countless jobs lost and billions in 
squandered private investment. That is the last thing we can afford as 
President Xi and the CCP work to outcompete America on the world 
stage--squandering all that great private investment that is now coming 
to America.
  Let's not forget, should this Republican DOA bill go into effect, 
taxes will go up for small businesses that no longer benefit from the 
green energy tax credits Democrats passed last year. Many of these 
green tax credits support job creation in Republican districts--jobs 
that Republicans are happy to take credit for while working behind the 
scenes to destroy them. It is the dictionary definition of 
``hypocrisy.''
  Finally, the House Default on America Act would break America's 
promise to our veterans, gutting funding for new VA facilities, funding 
for housing and food security and addiction treatment, and even 
endangering 81,000 jobs across the Veterans' Administration. How could 
House Republicans possibly think it is OK to cut funding for our 
veterans in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling? What kind of message 
does that send to our military families, our servicemembers?
  If MAGA Republicans want to sell their cuts to the American people, 
they should not do so in the middle of discussions to avoid default. 
That discussion properly belongs in conversations about the budget, not 
here. And we will be happy to discuss those cuts with them, oppose 
them, as we might, in the budget--not as a prelude to default.
  In the meantime, I urge Speaker McCarthy to stop wasting any more 
time on this DOA--dead on arrival--bill. Time is running out for 
Congress to work together to avoid catastrophe.