I thank the Chairman for holding this hearing. I am troubled that we are here today discussing this issue. This hearing implies that it would be appropriate to default on our debt and that a default can be managed. This simply is not true. It will never be appropriate for the U.S. government to default on the debt. The debt ceiling is about paying the bills of the United States of America, spending that has already been authorized by the Congress.
Our presence here sends a dangerous signal to the markets and the world that there is a possibility that we may default on some or all of our debt. We have been down this road before.
In the summer of 2011, Republicans in Congress pushed our nation toward default, and there were clear consequences. The market tumbled and the Dow Jones plunged 2,000 points in July and August of that year. Our country’s credit rating was downgraded for the first time in our history.
Shortly after the downgrade, one senior director at a credit rating agency said that our government’s stability was undermined by the fact that “people in the political arena were even talking about a potential default." Yet, despite this history, we are here again today.
At this point, all I can say to House Republicans and to the witnesses is, “be careful." The debt ceiling should not be used as leverage. The Treasury Department has made it clear that there is no fair way to pick and choose which bills should be paid and its systems are designed to pay bills in the order received.
I ask my colleagues, whose bills should not be paid? The Social Security checks of 56 million seniors and people with disabilities? The salaries of more than 2 million American military personnel, many of whom are currently in harm’s way? Hundreds of thousands of American businesses that supplied goods and services to and for the government and expected to be paid? Who else?
The United States of America must pay all of its obligations as they become due. There are no other legal options. This is the American way. We are the United States of America, and we pay our bills.
Thank you.
