[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 89 (Thursday, May 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H2612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          DEBT CEILING CRISIS

  (Ms. LOFGREN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LOFGREN. Madam Speaker, the Speaker has sent Congress home with 
default looming. Only Congress can raise the debt ceiling; and if we 
don't, we fail.
  However, the Republicans are trying to get their radical cuts, 
holding our economy hostage. These are cuts they can't get on the 
merits, like eliminating farm disaster relief, cuts to veterans' 
benefits, laying off firefighters and air traffic controllers, 
interrupting cancer research, stopping payments to nursing homes.
  Instead, they threaten default, which could cause a worldwide 
economic recession, cuts to regular Americans, millions of jobs lost.
  We would lose our preeminent spot in the world economy. China and 
Russia would win.
  Forty percent of all U.S. accumulated debt since 1789 happened during 
the Trump years.
  Yes, we can get our fiscal house in order, but not the way these 
radicals have proposed. We need to do our job and end this self-imposed 
threat of chaos.

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