House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell readily acknowledge that their failure to raise the debt ceiling will prevent the United States from paying its debts, thereby triggering an economic disaster of epic proportions for our country. Yet they persist in doing so. Why?
The Republicans have decided they can hold the nation hostage. In the immortal words of Mitch McConnell: “It’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming”.
But ransoming for what, exactly?
The Republicans want to attack their favorite targets: medical care for veterans, social security and Medicare, food assistance for older Americans, health coverage and access to care, funding for low income students, rail safety inspection, air safety, vital transportation infrastructure funding and a nearly endless list of other vital services.
The refusal of Republicans in Congress, including our own Representative Mike Collins, to pay America’s debts is not about reducing the deficit. The Republicans have rejected more than a dozen measures to close tax loopholes and want to dramatically reduce the number of Internal Revenue Service Agents who hold corporations and the rich accountable.
It is past time for Georgia’s members of Congress to stop holding Georgia and the nation hostage to their partisan, big business agenda.
They must not be permitted to prevent our country from paying its obligations, as it has done without fail for more than 200 years.
Bruce Menke
Athens