Indivisible Northampton - Swing Left Western MA

David Ball

The opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect opinions or positions held by Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western MA.

Kevin McCarthy won the votes to become Speaker of the House by promising far-right Republican representatives that he would not agree to raising the debt ceiling without demanding cuts in federal spending. This would hold the government hostage until they got what they wanted.

This mixes together two separate things: the debt ceiling, which must be lifted to enable the government to pay its past debts, and the budget, which is a plan for spending money in the future. Raising the debt ceiling has nothing to do with government spending: it is about protecting the country’s financial health. Refusing to lift it would mean the government could not pay federal workers, veterans, households that depend on Social Security, etc., because it could no longer borrow the funds to do so.

Pelle Lowe

The opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect opinions or positions held by Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western MA.

In an act of legislative negligence, the 117^th Congress didn’t raise the debt ceiling when the Democrats controlled the House and Senate.

If they had done their duty, Republican extremists wouldn’t be able to use the debt ceiling threat to force negotiations with what economist Paul Krugman calls “…economic terrorists… A party that barely holds one house of Congress shouldn’t get to impose deeply unpopular policies on the nation as a whole.”

Michael Dover

The opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect opinions or positions held by Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western MA.

[Here’s a great list of reasons to care about Georgia. It’s from an email from Billy Wimsatt, head of Movement Voter Project, so it’s also a plug for giving to their Georgia Fund, but read it all, especially if you know people who think this runoff isn’t important any more. – Michael]

(1) Save the Senate from the 50-50 power sharing arrangement – This is wonky but important. With 51 votes, Dems will have a one-vote advantage on every Senate committee. This will allow for a faster, less cumbersome process for confirming judges, cabinet members, and passing legislation. In the Senate calendar, wasted time has a huge cost.