Senate Republicans today voted to block debate on a measure to avoid a government shutdown and a debt default, further pushing the country towards an economic catastrophe — and putting partisan political games ahead of the country’s economic stability in the midst of an economic recovery and a still-raging global pandemic.
“It’s shameful that Republicans are playing political games and pushing the country toward a catastrophic default that stands to wipe out millions of jobs and trillions in wealth, throw small businesses into turmoil, and endanger Social Security payments and veterans benefits,” said American Bridge 21st Century President Jessica Floyd. “It’s never been more clear that Republicans will throw anyone under the bus to try to get ahead, because today they’re accelerating towards a looming crisis that will hurt millions of working families — all because they seem to think it will help their political chances in 2022. They’re mistaken, and we will make sure that voters hold them accountable.”
Republicans — who uniformly opposed the Democratic American Rescue Plan’s economic recovery investments earlier this year — have previewed this “political game” for months, even floating demands for cuts to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for a debt ceiling extension. And since August, Ron Johnsonhas organized his Republican colleagues against voting to raise the debt limit on a bipartisan basis — even though it’s something that Republicans have historically supported and even today admit is a necessary step to avoid a financial crisis.
Despite the widely-publicized, “dire” consequences of a debt default, 2022 Senate incumbents Ron Johnson, Marco Rubio, and Chuck Grassley each voted to block debate on any debt limit increase — as did 2022 retiring Senators Pat Toomey, Richard Burr, Roy Blunt, and Rob Portman, whose potential GOP successors will be forced to answer for their votes on the campaign trail.
Published: Sep 27, 2021