[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 74 (Tuesday, May 2, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1445-S1446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              DEBT CEILING

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now, yesterday, Treasury Secretary Janet 
Yellen released a letter warning that the U.S. government will likely 
default on its obligations as soon as June 1, only 30 days away.
  Rather than listen to reason, Speaker McCarthy has caved to 
extremists. By passing the ``Default on America Act,'' he has handed 
the keys over to the House Freedom Caucus, many of whom are more than 
happy to let the United States default if they don't get every last cut 
and every last unrelated, hard-right policy that had been added to this 
bill chockablock. Every one of them they want. As one House Freedom 
Caucus Member said plainly, Speaker McCarthy ``cannot get to 218 with 
changes to this deal.''
  Let me read that again so everyone hears it. This is where we are at. 
A House Freedom Caucus Member--each of whom, as we know, has great 
power in the House because they didn't change their rules--as one 
Freedom Caucus Member has said, plainly, Speaker McCarthy ``cannot get 
to 218 with changes to this deal.''
  But, as is obvious to just about anyone who looks at this, the 
``Default on America Act'' has no future in the Senate. Consequently, 
Speaker McCarthy has created a situation where he knowingly passed an 
extreme bill, has been boxed by his Republican colleagues into a 
corner, and now has little room to maneuver, lest he provoke the ire of 
the House Freedom Caucus.
  McCarthy is giving us two terrible options: Either default on the 
debt or default on our country, with steep, severe, devastating cuts to 
things like law enforcement, veterans, families, teachers, kids, even 
cancer research. The only real option that does not hurt the American 
people is a clean, bipartisan bill to avert default.
  As Americans look at the ``Default on America Act,'' which the House 
just passed, they will discover that it reads less like a plan for 
averting default and more like a House Freedom Caucus manifesto.

[[Page S1446]]

  The ``Default on America Act'' would tear at the fabric of American 
society, imposing dramatic cuts to our public security, cutting law 
enforcement dramatically at a time when we need help from them; the 
cruel abandonment of veterans when we should be defending our veterans; 
terrible job losses at a time when this last Congress, under Democratic 
control, started bringing jobs back from overseas to America, on chip 
fab, on manufacturing, on batteries, and so many other things; blocking 
access to affordable healthcare--over 21 million Americans could lose 
the healthcare gains that we have made over the last while--and brutal 
attacks on working families across the board.
  In fact, nothing about the ``Default on America Act'' has been on the 
level.
  Let me quote something that Speaker McCarthy said right after 
becoming Speaker. This is a quote from Kevin McCarthy:

       I want to give all Americans a personal invitation, you are 
     welcome to see this body at work. No longer will the doors be 
     closed, but the debates will be open . . . from the 
     committee rooms to this floor, we commit to pursue the 
     truth passionately and embrace debate.

  Well, let's go over that one. No more closed doors? Give me a break. 
The ``Default on America'' bill was written entirely behind closed 
doors, without a shred of transparency. This bill, which so 
dramatically and deeply and harmfully hurts America, was done entirely 
behind closed doors.
  Debates will be in the open? How many committee debates did the House 
GOP hold on their ``Default on America Act''? How many expert witnesses 
were invited? How many amendments from the Democratic side were allowed 
to be presented?
  Again, the truth is, ``Default on America'' is an extremist bill that 
would never have a shot at passing muster with the American public on 
its own. As such, everything about this bill was rushed, was secret, 
was the antithesis of open and transparent. McCarthy's words ring 
hollow. The American people deserve better.
  Now, if Republicans refuse to level with the American people about 
their bill, Senate Democrats are more than happy to do it. We will show 
the American people how the ``Default on America Act'' will decimate 
Federal law enforcement in this country, erasing nearly 30,000 law 
enforcement jobs and leaving border security hanging out to dry. We 
will show how the ``Default on America Act'' is a direct assault on 
families. It slashes childcare, cuts Pell Grant funding, and even takes 
aim at programs as popular and beneficial as Meals on Wheels.
  I mean, do Republicans seriously think that is the way to avoid 
default, by depriving our country from the critical resources to feed 
hungry Americans?
  And we will show the American people how the ``Default on America'' 
is chock-full of totally irrelevant, hard-right goodies that would 
deregulate fossil fuels, empower the biggest corporations, give tax 
giveaways to the ultrarich, and impose cruel and unpopular attacks on 
working families.
  We will take the first step to expose these atrocities on Thursday, 
when the Senate Budget Committee holds hearings on how the ``Default on 
America Act'' will weaken our economy and slash hundreds of thousands 
of jobs. It will be the very first legislative hearing in either House 
that looks at what ``Default on America'' does, and there will be more 
hearings to follow.
  If Republicans want to sell their awful agenda to the American 
people, they are welcome to do so in debates about the budget and the 
appropriations process. That is where these debates have always 
happened, not in the middle of a default crisis that now stares us in 
the face.
  As Democrats expose the ``Default on America'' bill for what it is, 
our position remains the same, both parties should do what we have done 
in the past, the last three times default faced us: Both parties should 
pass a clean, bipartisan bill to avoid default together, before--
before--we hit the critical June 1 deadline.

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