By Alex Lasry
Alex Lasry
The federal government is once again hurtling toward a debt crisis and government shutdown, thanks to the refusal of Senate Republicans, like Ron Johnson, to fund our government and pay for the bills that both parties have created over the last few decades.
A government shutdown affects every American. It leads to furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal employees, closes federal parks and keeps federal contractors from getting paid. A government shutdown now would have a devastating effect on our economy that is still trying to recover from the shock of the pandemic.
While a government shutdown would be bad, the United States defaulting on its debt would be catastrophic.
The United States has never defaulted on our loans in our entire history. Ever.
If this happens now, we will face financial calamity. It could immediately plunge the country into a devastating recession, it will eliminate all the gains we have made in the last year and would likely set off a worldwide economic downturn.
Raising the debt ceiling now pays for yesterday’s bills, more specifically, it pays for a lot of debt that was authorized when Republicans were in power. As a result of policies like the 2017 Trump tax cuts, our national debt grew by about $7.8 trillion during Donald Trump’s presidency, while Senate Republicans didn’t say a word. Now that they are no longer in power, they are willing to play political games with our country’s future.
The deadline to raise the debt limit comes up next month, and Republicans in the U.S. Senate say they will not help raise it and will block efforts to do so.
Republicans like Johnson have voted for legislation that has added to this debt total, and now they need to do their job to help Democrats keep our government open and our bills paid. As the pandemic still affects counties across the globe, now is the worst time to be playing politics with the world’s economy. We need to avoid a catastrophic default as we continue to try to power an economic recovery.
There is still enough time for Congress to do the right thing by raising the debt limit and preventing a government shutdown. We send our representatives to Congress to ensure that we have a government that helps us, not actively hurt us. We can no longer allow politicians like Johnson to jeopardize our country’s economic future to score political points.
That’s why I’m running for U.S. Senate.
Tammy Baldwin needs a true partner in Washington to help deliver the real results that every voter in Wisconsin should expect. Let’s end the political games and send Johnson packing next November.