Dear Jim,
This past week, Republicans hostage-takers came dangerously close to willfully and recklessly driving our economy, not to mention the entire global economy, over a cliff.
Had the Republicans followed through on their threats to stop any increase in the debt ceiling unless their ransom demands were met, our government would have defaulted on our debt for the first time in history, resulting in widespread economic calamity.
We avoided a default this time, but if we allow the Republicans to continue playing with fire, eventually they’re going to burn down the house.
What the Republicans did last week was like a highlight reel of how members of Congress should not act. It was blatantly undemocratic, extremely dangerous and completely unnecessary.
Even with the lasting pain and damage a default would have caused -- all of which was both avoidable and unnecessary -- 144 House Republicans irresponsibly voted to send us over the cliff by refusing to support the bill that ultimately ensured the government would be able to pay our bills.
To justify this rash and stupid vote, far too many members of Congress subjected us to their absurd claims –- contrary to both common sense and economy theory –- that default wouldn’t be that bad.
Fortunately, enough Republicans saw the insanity of forcing the government to default, and allowed the debt ceiling to be raised.
But if they recognize the necessity of raising the debt ceiling, the question remains why it’s not something that is done automatically.
America is virtually alone in the developed world in having a debt ceiling, but there's nothing in the Constitution about it.
And if Congress wants to reduce spending, there's already a far less dangerous way to do so -- it's called the budget process.
Despite the cries from Republicans about out-of-control government spending, the debt limit doesn't have much at all to do with spending.
Instead, the debt ceiling artificially prohibits the government from issuing new debt to pay the bills that are already due based upon previous budgets duly approved by Congress -- including budgets supported by many of the people who used the debt ceiling as an excuse to push their extremist agenda through blatant extortion.
While votes to raise the debt ceiling have traditionally been opportunities for members of Congress to grandstand, the severe consequences of not raising the debt ceiling have until recently served to ensure it was increased as a routine matter -- including seven times under George W. Bush.
But extremist Republicans -- many of whom voted for the tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans and the unfunded wars that caused our government deficit to explode -- have now twice tried to used the threat of a government default to hold the entire American economy hostage to their radical demands.
While they lost this time, they’ll only try the same tactic again and again if more opportunities present themselves.
We should speak up now and insist that Congress do away with this unnecessary and deeply dangerous process, especially now that it is obviously so ripe for abuse.
Tell Congress: The debt ceiling serves no useful purpose and should be abolished. Click the link below to automatically sign the petition:
Thank you for standing up to Republican hostage-takers.
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