Wyden Statement on CBO Debt Ceiling Projection

Washington, D.C. — Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released the following statement on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Debt Ceiling Projection:

“The country is getting closer to default, uncertainty is mounting, and it’s going to drag on our economy more and more with every passing week. There’s still only one way out of this manufactured crisis, and it’s for Republicans to work with Democrats to pass a clean debt ceiling increase just like we passed on a bipartisan basis when Donald Trump was in office.

“If the Republicans’ goal really was working together to shore up the country’s fiscal health, they would never use the debt ceiling as a hostage-taking weapon. That’s because the default they’re threatening to trigger would be fiscally devastating and would make it much harder for the country to pay its debts. It could take years or even decades to recover.

“Democrats are going to stand firm against any Republican effort to cut Social Security and Medicare. There now appears to be a growing effort among Republicans to use this crisis they started to end Medicaid as we know it, following through on the extreme cuts and restrictions Donald Trump attempted to impose as president. By going after Medicaid, Republicans would be saying they’ll crash the economy if they can’t lay waste to the program that insures more Americans than any other, pays for two out of three nursing home beds and is an essential source of health care for pregnant women, infants and children. Democrats must stand up and prevent that from happening.”

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