Press Releases

(As prepared for delivery)

I rise today to remind my colleagues of one of our most solemn Congressional obligations: to avoid default and ensure that we preserve the full faith and credit of the United States.

President Biden secured a compromise that puts an end to Republicans’ manufactured default crisis and beats back Republicans’ deepest cuts. The President’s experienced leadership, even in the face of divided government, helped him to broker an agreement that protects our hard-earned, historic economic recovery and safeguards the progress made by the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPs Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We know what Republicans’ alternative would be: from the very beginning, Republicans wanted to cut Social Security, Medicare, and gut veterans’ benefits. Just today, their leadership openly floated slashing these critical earned benefits.  

Republicans’ Default on America Act attempted to balance the budget on the backs of hardworking Americans. It targeted food security and healthcare while ignoring tax loopholes exploited by the wealthy and well-connected.

Let’s not forget, Republicans put us in this situation. In the last 25 years, they’ve voted to gift $10 trillion in tax cuts for the top 1% and big corporations, $2.5 trillion of that alone in their Trump Tax Scam. They voted to increase defense spending. Voted for two wars that created 3 million veterans. They supported the infrastructure bill, the Chips Act, and so much more. And yet, they held the economy hostage when it came time to ensure the government could pay what it owes. That’s not how you govern and not what the American people expect.

  We’ve made tremendous progress on behalf of the American people since President Biden took office. Over 12 million jobs created, wages on the rise, and landmark unemployment. Republicans were willing to throw away our economy, Americans’ retirement security, and millions of jobs to score political points. We said all along that the biggest threat to Americans’ economic well-being was Republicans’ extremism. They’ve proved us right. While President Biden’s budget agreement averts a default, the American people will see Republicans’ hostage stunt for what it is: a dangerous abdication of responsibility.