Blue Dog Members Call on Biden Administration and Speaker to Begin Earnest Debt Ceiling Negotiations

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) led the Blue Dog Coalition in a letter sent yesterday urging President Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy to negotiate in good faith to raise or suspend the debt ceiling so that a stand off does not imperil the financial stability of the United States or the federal benefits that millions of hard-working Americans depend on. 

“Failure to raise the debt limit would prevent the federal government from meeting its legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, and tax refunds,” members of the Blue Dog Coalition wrote in their letter. “Moreover, economists estimate that a debt limit breach would put an immediate halt to ten percent of our nation’s economic activity, result in a loss of millions of jobs, significantly raise interest rates on homes, cars, and credit cards, wreak havoc on global markets, and devalue the dollar around the world. 

Representatives Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34), Jim Costa (CA-21), and Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) joined Rep. Golden in sending the letter. 

“Consumers are seeing gas and food prices go down as inflation is slowing, wages are up, the unemployment rate remains at a 50-year low, and economic growth was higher than anticipated at 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022. A default on our debt – or, as occurred in 2011, a political standoff – would reverse these trends and damage our economy. With this in mind, we must work together to ensure that the country meets its financial obligations and that the good faith and credit of the United States remain intact,” continued the group.

Read the letter in full here. 

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