Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and thank him for his masterful leadership of the Committee on Ways and Means to address many of the health concerns and climate concerns, issues of fairness in our economy in such an important way that has been manifested in the rescue package and now in the Build Back Better legislation.
Today, we come to the floor about a very important issue of concern on the economic stability and fiscal soundness of our country.
Madam Speaker, as you recall, last week, House Democrats honored our responsibility to the American people by voting on lifting the debt ceiling and on a continuing resolution to keep government open to avoid a devastating shutdown. Not one Republican voted to lift the debt ceiling or to keep government open, even though there were very important measures to address the needs of people affected by Ida and to help us help the evacuees from Afghanistan, and other issues in there of concern to all Americans.
We all know the full faith and credit of the United States should not be questioned. This is in the Constitution. In the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4, states: ``The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, shall . . . not be questioned.''
Madam Speaker, even by questioning it, our credit rating was brought down when the Republicans questioned it when President Obama was in office.
Let's just talk about the consequences. Our distinguished chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means talked about what it meant in people's personal lives. And that is really what we are here about, for people in their personal lives, their financial and health security.
The consequences of not lifting the debt ceiling would be catastrophic. The nonpartisan Moody's Analytics found these consequences could include a loss of 6 million jobs, the elimination of potentially $15 trillion of household wealth, sending the unemployment rate surging to 9 percent, and a decline in the real GDP of our country by 4 percent.
What that means in people's personal lives, according to the Joint Economic Committee, default on not lifting the debt ceiling could prompt a lasting downgrade in America's credit, drastically increasing the cost for car loans--families have car loans--mortgages, student loans, credit card bills, and other borrowing. I don't know if there is anyone in the country who doesn't have such a loan, certainly among America's working families.
In a larger sense, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon predicted that such a default ``could cause an immediate, literally cascading catastrophe of unbelievable proportions and damage to America for 100 years. Let me repeat that: ``could cause an immediate, literally cascading catastrophe of unbelievable proportions and damage to America for 100 years.''
As I said before, it would be catastrophic. We must act now.
Yesterday, Secretary Yellen announced that by October 18, the Treasury is set to exhaust extraordinary measures and cash on hand, leading us barreling towards a default. This has been going on since the end of July when the debt limit expired.
Addressing the debt limit is not about future spending. This is about meeting the obligations that the American government has already incurred, including when we worked together on the bipartisan COVID relief legislation last December. Only 3 percent of the current debt that we are lifting the debt ceiling to accommodate has been accrued under President Biden.
A big chunk of this, though, is attributed to at least $2 trillion in the tax scam of 2017 where the Republicans gave 83 percent of the benefits to the top 1 percent. And now we have to lift the debt ceiling to pay for that.
The debt limit has long been a bipartisan issue, and you could talk about times when Democrats and Republicans voted against it, in part. But it is very hard to find a time when they said my vote will take down the debt limit. Democrats have never done that.
Congress has addressed the debt limit 78 times, as the distinguished chairman mentioned, since 1960; 29 times with a Democrat in the White House; 49 times under a Republican President.
More recently, since 2011, each of the seven times that the debt limit was addressed, Congress did so on a bipartisan basis. This includes three times under the most recent former President when Democrats cooperated.
We did so because the full faith and credit of the United States of America cannot be questioned--the Constitution says that--and because of all of the consequences that would happen if we did not lift the debt ceiling. Republicans' refusal to support a suspension of the debt limit now is cynical, hypocritical, and downright dangerous.
As Mitch McConnell himself has said about the need to address the debt limit, this is what he said last time: ``Don't play Russian roulette with our economy.'' Yet, that is exactly what he is doing: playing Russian roulette--interesting that he is playing Russian roulette--with our economy and with the financial security and the well-being of America's working families. The kitchen table concerns: How are they going to pay the bills? Well, now the interest rate will be higher if the Republicans prevail.
That is why today, we will pass this suspension of the debt limit. Democrats are for the people and will never let the full faith and credit of the United States be questioned because we take an oath to the Constitution of the United States--and that is an oath that we always intend to uphold--and because we have a responsibility to the health and well-being of America's working families, and this would have a disastrous effect on them.
Madam Speaker, I salute the distinguished chairman once again, and I urge--and hopefully--a strong bipartisan vote on this legislation.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source