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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, decades ago, President Reagan warned that debt ceiling brinksmanship ``threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on social security and veterans benefit . . . [and] the United States,'' he said, ``has a special responsibility to itself and to the world to meet its obligations.

If President Reagan were around today, he might well be exiled by a modern Republican Party that in many ways seems dead set--dead set--on abandoning that special responsibility never to default.

We have less than a month to go until we hit June 1. Every day wasted is another day closer to catastrophe. At stake is the well-being of families, retirees, veterans, kids, and the very stability of our economy.

But by ramming the ``Default on America Act'' through the House-- totally partisan, knowing full well this bill can never become law-- Speaker McCarthy and the hard right have made the odds of default go up. By handing his gavel over to the hard right, the Speaker is giving the American people two terrible options: either default on the debt or default on the country, with steep cuts to law enforcement, first responders, veterans, seniors, and even cancer research. Just think how radical such an ultimatum truly is. It is a dramatic break from how both parties have approached default in the past.

On one hand, a Republican default would crash the economy, increase costs, and kill American jobs. Unemployment would rise to at least 8 percent. Mortgage and car payments would all go up by a lot, while the value of pensions and 401(k)s would come crashing down. That is the future that Speaker McCarthy and the House Freedom Caucus have made more likely by passing the ``Default on America Act.''

But the alternative is also a nightmare scenario. If the Republicans' ``Default on America Act'' became law, 1 million seniors--1 million seniors--would lose access to Meals on Wheels. These are seniors who literally can't get food on their own much of the time and rely on others bringing it to them. They would be on the chopping block if the GOP has its way. Deprive seniors who can't leave their homes of food-- what is that all about?--so that some very wealthy, wealthy multibillionaires don't have to pay any taxes? It is outrageous.

Here is another one. The Republican ``Default on America Act'' would eliminate 30,000 law enforcement jobs across the country. Do you know what that means? Gun violence will get even worse. Our neighborhoods will become less safe. Border security would be deprived of billions in crucial resources. The war on opioids would decline, and more addictions, crimes, and others from opioid use would go up. What is that all about?

Once again, the hard right--totally enthralled by the very wealthy, wealthy few who are so greedy, they don't want to pay any taxes--say cut things like this. Cut law enforcement. Cut Meals on Wheels.

The ``Default on America Act'' would shamefully attack our Nation's veterans, purging 80,000 VA jobs, leaving our Nation's heroes without the care they have earned throughout a lifetime of service.

These are just three of many. Eliminate Meals on Wheels; greatly hurt our efforts at law enforcement and safety by dramatically cutting, defunding police; greatly--greatly--tying the hands of the VA so that veterans would get worse healthcare and they would have to wait even longer--this is what the Republicans' ``Default on America'' bill does. That is why it is dead on arrival--not for some political ideological reason, but it would do such harm.

When you wonder about the motivation of the Republicans, it ultimately is this, these rightwing Republicans. Listen to the greedy few, the powerful greedy few who don't want to pay any taxes and want to have taxes reduced. Some of them even called for even eliminating the income tax.

Finally, the ``Default on America Act'' is chock-full of totally irrelevant, hard-right goodies that would deregulate fossil fuel, reward corporate greed, shower the ultrarich with tax giveaways, and impose cruel and unpopular work requirements on vulnerable families.

Whether it is kicking seniors to the curb, cutting law enforcement jobs, or abandoning our veterans, everything about the ``Default on America Act'' wreaks of MAGA extremism. So it is no wonder the Republicans did it in secret. It is no wonder that they didn't want to do what they promised to do: have hearings, have witnesses, have bipartisan discussions and amendments.

But if Republicans won't level with the American people about their terrible bill, Senate Democrats are going to do it for them. Tomorrow, the Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing on how the ``Default on America Act'' would weaken the economy and slash hundreds of thousands of jobs. I want to thank Chairman Whitehouse and all the members of the committee for doing the important work of bringing this bill to the public eye because the American people deserve better.

Incredibly--incredibly--tomorrow's hearing will be the very first hearing in either House that actually looks at what the ``Default on America Act'' does. Amazing. This huge bill that affects almost every aspect of American life--they haven't had one hearing on the issues they are doing. But we are going to start doing it, and that hearing will be the first, but there will be many others.

As Democrats shine a light on how unserious and extreme the Republican ``Default on American Act'' is, our view about the path forward remains the same: can't choose the ``Default on America Act''; must avoid the horrors of default; pass a clean bipartisan bill to avert default.

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