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Washington, D.C. – Today, at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on House Republicans’ Default on America Act, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), senior member of the Budget Committee and Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, highlighted how House Republicans’ dangerous Default on America Act would harm every single American family, wreck our economy, and force our nation to fall further and further behind our competitors.
“The stakes are really high and the clock is ticking,” Senator Murray said. “We have, as we all know, until June 1st to raise the debt ceiling. That is weeks away. The American economy right now is heading for a cliff—and last week the House Republicans voted to drive off it full speed ahead. This should not be hard. When you are heading for a cliff—you turn the wheel! You don’t say, ‘Oh I’ll turn the wheel if you let me cut the breaks, or disable the airbags, or trash the engine.’ But that is essentially what House Republicans are offering.”
Murray made a point of noting that the Default on America Act would decimate basic government services we all rely on: from air traffic control and rail safety to ensuring our food and drugs are safe for consumers. “Make no mistake: it doesn’t matter who you vote for, what state you live in, or what you make—if House Republicans get their way, it is going to make your life worse.”
Murray emphasized how the Default on America Act would harm our nation’s veterans, making clear that House Republicans’ bill does nothing to protect the benefits and support veterans have earned and are counting on to get housing, get a higher education, or start a business. “The Default on America Act doesn’t even protect veteran’s health care—one of our fundamental obligations to the men and women who put their lives on the line for our country,” Murray said. “It just cuts—across the board.”
Murray also discussed how House Republicans’ legislation would not only make draconian cuts in the short term, but it would lock in even more cuts over the next decade with spending caps that would tie our hands and force our nation to fall further and further behind our competitors. “A lost decade for America—that is what MAGA Republicans are proposing,” Murray said. “What House Republicans have voted for is one massive gift to the Chinese government. Because—guess what? Our competitors are not debating whether to pay their debts or wreck their economy. They are not debating whether to invest in their future, or cut, and cap, the investments that keep them competitive. They are doing everything they can to get ahead.”
Murray asked Dr. Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody’s Analytics and a witness at today’s hearing, to speak to the potential macroeconomic damage of House Republicans’ bill, both to our economy and our nation’s competitive edge on the world stage.
“The risks here are quite significant,” Dr. Zandi said, outlining how the cuts House Republicans proposed would inject further vulnerability into our economy and cut non-defense discretionary spending from 3.5 percent of GDP—a rate less than the historical averages over the past half-century—to 2 percent of GDP by the end of the decade. “This goes to very significant cuts to all of the things that you described, Dr. Zandi continued, “everything from health care and education training, NASA, national parks—things that I think Americans count on as essential services and critical income support—and that would be incredibly difficult for the economy to digest, and at the end of the day, would not address our long-term unsustainable fiscal situation… and severely limit our competitive edge.”
An analysis from the House Budget Committee found that in Fiscal Year 2024—alongside other devastating impacts on Washington state—the bill would:
Put 371,000 people at risk of losing Medicaid coverage in Washington;
Threaten access to food assistance for 19,000 people aged 50-55 in Washington;
Eliminate preschool and child care for at least 4,800 children in Washington;
Increase housing costs for at least 17,400 people in Washington;
Make college more expensive for at least 89,400 students in Washington;
Eliminate at least 6 air traffic control towers in Washington;
Cut at least 240 rail safety inspection days in Washington; and
Repeal investments in cleaner, cheaper energy — threatening at least 800 clean energy and manufacturing jobs announced in Washington since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
“I am asking my Republican colleagues here at the brink of economic calamity: do not let Speaker McCarthy’s partisan hostage-taking win the day and lose the 21st century,” Murray said. “Do not force an unprecedented economic crisis on our country in a vain attempt to slash funding for families, veterans, and communities across America. Come to the table, and work with us to simply pay our country’s bills—like we have so many times before, including three times under the last president—and then let us work together on bipartisan spending bills that invest in America and keep us moving forward.”
Senator Murray’s remarks as delivered:
“Well thank you, Chair Whitehouse for holding this really important hearing. Because the stakes are really high—and the clock is ticking.
“We have—as we all know—until June 1st to raise the debt ceiling. That is weeks away. The American economy right now is heading for a cliff—and last week, the House Republicans voted to drive it off full speed ahead.
“This should not be hard: when you are heading for a cliff—you turn the wheel!
“You don’t say, ‘Well, I’ll turn the wheel, if you let me cut the breaks, or disable the airbags, or trash the engine. But that is essentially what the House Republicans are offering us.
“Mr. Chairman, you called it door one or door two, I believe.
“Because House Republicans are saying if you don’t let us wreck the economy, and whittle down essential government services to the point where we are laying off air traffic controllers, then we will just wreck the economy by refusing to pay the bills instead.
“Make no mistake—it doesn’t matter who you vote for, what state you live in, or what you make. If House Republicans get their way, it is going to make your life worse.
“The cuts they are proposing in the Default on America Act won’t just kick families off food benefits or rip away housing support for veterans.
“It will gut funding that keeps our planes in the sky and trains on the rails, our food and medicine safe, our cops on our streets—and helps get deadly fentanyl off of them.
“And despite Republicans protesting, the reality is that this bill will not protect veterans from cuts. Just read it!
“What House Republicans passed does nothing to protect the benefits and support that veterans have earned and are counting on to get housing, get a higher education, or start a business. The Default on America Act doesn’t even protect veteran’s health care—one of our fundamental obligations to the men and women who put their lives on the line for our country.
“It just cuts—across the board. Medical research? Child care? Workforce training? Disaster relief? Border security? Small business grants? Cut!
“That is their big idea. That is the Default on America Act that House Republicans are taking our economy hostage for.
“Except, that’s only half of it. Because House Republicans are also demanding spending caps that will lock in even more cuts over the next decade.
“That is ten years of our competitors who are going to be investing in their economies, growing stronger, and gaining ground while House Republicans tie our hands, and force us to fall farther and farther behind.
“A lost decade for America—that is what MAGA Republicans are proposing.
“What House Republicans have voted for is one massive gift to the Chinese government. Because—guess what? Our competitors are not debating whether to pay their debts or wreck their economy. They are not debating whether to invest in their future or cut, and cap, the investments that keep them competitive. They are doing everything they can to get ahead.
“So I am asking my Republican colleagues here at the brink of economic calamity: Do not let Speaker McCarthy’s partisan hostage-taking win the day, and lose the 21st century.
“Do not force an unprecedented economic crisis on our country in a vain attempt to slash funding for families, veterans, and communities across America.
“Come to the table, work with us to simply pay our country’s bills—like we have so many times before—including three times under the last president.
“And then let’s work together on our bipartisan spending bills that invest and keep us moving America forward—not back.
“Which is—I will tell my committee members—exactly what we’re focused on doing in the Senate Appropriations Committee.”