WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today made the following statement on the House floor regarding Republicans bringing up a bill to raise the debt limit for the sole purpose of voting it down:
“Mr. Speaker, bringing up this bill in this fashion is a ploy so egregious that Republicans have had to spend the last week pleading with Wall Street not to take it seriously and risk our economic recovery.
“If Republicans were being truthful, they’d admit that they’re looking for political cover, but in their doing so they risk blowing a hole in our nation’s economy.
“They’d acknowledge that their timing is an effort to change the subject less than a week after their plan to end Medicare was dealt a major setback by voters in a New York special election whose Democratic winner will be sworn in tomorrow.
“To act in good faith to solve our nation’s fiscal problems, the Republicans should focus not on this ploy but on the budget negotiations being led by the Vice President.
“Our nation’s debt is indeed a problem that requires serious solutions - not ploys that risk another global financial crisis.
“I reserve the balance of my time."
