Tell our Members of Congress and Biden: No Further Ransom in Debt Ceiling Negotiations
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
For our Members of Congress:
I urge you to pass the debt-ceiling suspension bill and reject all further Republican ransom demands. They are economic terrorists holding our economy hostage for right-wing political goals they cannot win through democratic legislative process. Not one penny more! Not one policy retreat further!
For President Biden:
I urge you to reject all further Republican ransom demands. They are economic terrorists holding our economy hostage for right-wing political goals they cannot win through democratic legislative process. If they demand yet more concession, nullify their threat by rejecting the debt ceiling law on grounds of the 14th Amendment, or circumventing it by minting platinum coins and depositing them in the federal reserve.
Background
As far back as January, President Biden vowed he would not negotiate with Republican economic hostage-takers over the fast-approaching debt ceiling—he insisted on a clean debt limit increase with no strings attached. Now he has negotiated with them a debt-ceiling deal containing an array of concessions.
While the 99-page ransom deal rejects the most loathsome Republican demands and also does contain some good provisions, it includes cuts and policies that we of Indivisible strongly oppose. Among them:
Negotiating any ransom deal continues to tacitly accept the validity of Republicans using unconstitutional and anti-democratic blackmail to impose budget-cuts and policies they could never win through the normal legislative process.
Capping domestic spending at current levels means that inflation actually reduces it. Meanwhile, defense spending is increased with inflation.
Green-lighting Manchin's oil-pipeline and altering the National Environmental Policy Act to speed approval of, and increase the use of, planet-warming fossil fuels.
Ending the pause on student loan repayments at the end of August and making it harder to reinstate loan moratoriums.
Cutting and transferring $21 billion from IRS programs that target billionaire and giant corporate tax cheats so that they can continue avoiding their fair share of taxation. By reducing tax revenues, this provision increases the deficit—and consequently the debt—rather than reducing it.
Imposing even more forced-work restrictions (so-called “work requirements”) on older Americans who receive food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and those who receive aid from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
“The agreement puts hundreds of thousands of older adults aged 50-54 at risk of losing food assistance, including a large number of women,” – Sharon Parrott, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
In other words, the ransom deal once again allows Republicans to further impoverish the poor while enriching the already rich, by taking food from hungry seniors and enabling wealthy tax-cheats.
Enthusiastically supporting the ransom deal are the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Business Roundtable, the major political organizations representing the billionaire and corporate donors who invest in Congress by bribing both parties with massive dark money campaign donations. They support both the debt-ceiling extortion scheme and this particular ransom deal for at least three reasons:
They hate and oppose most domestic safety-net programs because they don't want to pay taxes to support them.
Taking from the poor and giving to the rich is good business because when your kids are hungry you're forced to take any job offered regardless of how low the pay or unsafe the work.
The new round of forced-work restrictions on food aid also mean huge profits for the big temp agencies who are dark-money contributors to the political campaigns of both parties. When you're under immediate threat of losing your food-stamps you've got to find work quickly which means using a temp agency that skims off 25-50% of what the private or government employer is paying for your labor.
As the House and Senate begin debating the ransom deal legislation today (Wednesday), it is possible that Republicans will raise new extortion demands. Our response has to be: “Not one penny more! Not one policy retreat further!” If they continue to threaten the economy with disaster, President Biden must nullify their threat by one of the variety of means available to him.
References
New Details in Debt Limit Deal: Where $136 Billion in Cuts Will Come From, NY Times, 5/29 (no paywall)
Debt Ceiling Agreement Reflects Improvements Over House Bill, Harmful Provisions Remain, Sharon Parrott, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The Logic Behind Biden’s Refusal to Negotiate the Debt Ceiling, The Atlantic, 1/27
Business groups endorse debt limit deal as McCarthy scrambles for votes , The Hill, 5/29