Hoyer, House Democrats Send Letter to Minority Leader McConnell Urging Action on the Debt Limit
The lawmakers write, “Holding the debt limit hostage, as you and forty-five of your Republican Senate colleagues have said you will do, is a dangerous, illogical, and irresponsible way to express that concern. Whatever you think about the policy agenda that the current administration and the Democratic majorities in Congress are pursuing, we know you agree that it would be dangerous malpractice to allow our economy to be unnecessarily crippled by political uncertainty over a possible default on our obligations as a country. You said as much as two years ago when you last voted to suspend the debt ceiling. We hope you will do your part – and that you will convince your fellow Republican senators will do theirs – to ensure that our economic recovery can move forward without this brinksmanship.”
Click here or see below for the text of the letter and the full list of Democrats signing the letter:
Hon. Mitch McConnell Minority Leader United States Senate 317 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator McConnell: On three occasions over the past four years, the previous president and the Republican Senate, in which you served as Majority Leader, asked Democrats to do the responsible thing for the American people and vote to suspend the debt limit. Every signatory to this letter did so at least once, setting aside the temptation to extract political pain, in order to ensure that our country could pay its bills. We agreed with your assessment in 2017, 2018, and 2019 that the consequence of inaction would be, as you said, “a debt limit crisis that could put our full faith and credit at risk.” Indeed, we also agree with your statement last week that, “The country must never default. The debt ceiling will need to be raised.” In this instance, the American people would confront a default crisis at a much more vulnerable moment as the economy recovers from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is time for you and the Republican Conference you lead to do as we did before – to do the right thing, the necessary thing, to avert a manufactured crisis. Holding the debt limit hostage, as you and forty-five of your Republican Senate colleagues have said you will do, is a dangerous, illogical, and irresponsible way to express that concern. Whatever you think about the policy agenda that the current administration and the Democratic majorities in Congress are pursuing, we know you agree that it would be dangerous malpractice to allow our economy to be unnecessarily crippled by political uncertainty over a possible default on our obligations as a country. You said as much as two years ago when you last voted to suspend the debt ceiling. We hope you will do your part – and that you will convince your fellow Republican senators will do theirs – to ensure that our economic recovery can move forward without this brinksmanship.
Sincerely,
Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) John Yarmuth (KY-05) Bobby Scott (VA-03) Derek Kilmer (WA-06) Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02) David Scott (GA-13) Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30) Adam Smith (WA-09) James A. Himes (CT-04) Colin Z. Allred (TX-32) Joyce Beatty (OH-03) Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-7) Sanford Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-AL) Cheri Bustos (IL-17) G.K. Butterfield (NC-01) Salud Carbajal (CA-24) Matt Cartwright (PA-08) Sean Casten (IL-06) Steve Cohen (TN-09) Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11) Jim Costa (CA-16) Joe Courtney (CT-02) Angie Craig (MN-02) Jason Crow (CO-06) Henry Cuellar (TX-28) Madeleine Dean (PA-04) Mike Doyle (PA-18) Veronica Escobar (TX-16) Dwight Evans (PA-03) Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) Bill Foster (IL-11) Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) Vincente Gonzalez (TX-15) Al Green (TX-09) Brian Higgins (NY-26) Steven Horsford (NV-04) Jared Huffman (CA-02) Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) Ann McLane Kuster (NH-02) John Larson (CT-01) Brenda Lawrence (MI-14) Susie Lee (NV-03) Stephen Lynch (MA-08) Joe Neguse (CO-02) Tom O'Halleran (AZ-01) Bill Pascrell (NJ-09) Dean Phillips (MN-03) Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36) C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) Bradley Scott Schneider (IL-10) Terri Sewell (AL-07) Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) Darren Soto (FL-09) Haley M. Stevens (MI-11) Mike Thompson (CA-05) Paul D. Tonko (NY-20) Lori Trahan (MA-03) David J. Trone (MD-06) Lauren Underwood (IL-14) Filemon Vela (TX-34) Peter Welch (VT-AL) Jennifer Wexton (VA-10) Susan Wild (PA-07)
EIN Presswire does not exercise editorial control over third-party content provided, uploaded, published, or distributed by users of EIN Presswire. We are a distributor, not a publisher, of 3rd party content. Such content may contain the views, opinions, statements, offers, and other material of the respective users, suppliers, participants, or authors.
