Memorandum: Republicans Must Join Democrats in Addressing the Debt Limit

MEMORANDUM FROM SPEAKER EMERITA NANCY PELOSI

Republicans Must Join Democrats in Addressing the Debt Limit

The Constitution is crystal clear: "The validity of the public debt of the United States…shall not be questioned."

For decades, both parties have worked together in a responsible way to address the debt ceiling. And the Gephardt Rule ensured that, every time Congress passed a budget, our borrowing limit was automatically raised to keep pace.

However, under recent Democratic Administrations, Republicans have largely abandoned this bipartisan spirit. Instead, they have used the threat of a devastating debt default as leverage to achieve their dark and dangerous dreams of slashing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Frighteningly, some in their Conference even seem willing to let America default – and impose unthinkable economic pain on American families. In 2011, even the suggestion that the United States would not be able to pay its debts lowered America's credit rating and diminished our economy.

As we again prepare to address the debt limit, House Democrats must have the facts of Republicans' extremism, irresponsibility and hypocrisy on this issue.

In the current debate, Speaker McCarthy has falsely claimed that House Democrats agreed to budget caps in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling. In fact, the exact opposite is true: budget caps were lifted as part of the 2019 bipartisan agreement.

This year, under President Biden, House Republicans are once again threatening the full faith and credit of America: risking a default that would create a global economic disaster and forcing brutal cuts to critical government initiatives that would devastate America's working families.

• Fact: Under President Obama, Republicans held the debt limit hostage in order to secure the sequester. Over the years, these damaging across-the-board budget cuts – including to defense, veterans, education and many other initiatives – directly impacted the everyday lives of American families.
• Fact: In 2013, Republicans forced the federal government into twin crises of a government shutdown and a threat of default in order to defund the Affordable Care Act and force further budget cuts. The burden fell to House Democrats to pass bills ending the shutdown and lifting the debt ceiling – because Republican Leadership could not deliver the votes.
• Fact: In sharp contrast, under President Trump, the Republican Majority voted to raise the debt ceiling two times – never forcing the country to the brink of default. In 2019, our House Democratic Majority worked across the aisle and with the Republican President to reach agreement on the debt limit. At the same time, we finally eliminated the sequester: a painful legacy of Republican extremism on the debt limit.

In the current debate, Speaker McCarthy has falsely claimed that House Democrats agreed to budget caps in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling. In fact, the exact opposite is true: budget caps were lifted as part of the 2019 bipartisan agreement.

This year, under President Biden, House Republicans are once again threatening the full faith and credit of America: risking a default that would create a global economic disaster and forcing brutal cuts to critical government initiatives that would devastate America's working families.

Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans must join House Democrats, the White House and the Senate in addressing the debt ceiling in a responsible way – so that we reassure the world that "the validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned."