Leading Senate Democrats Dismiss Negotiation on Government Funding, Debt Ceiling
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, continued an hours-long speech on the Senate floor on Sept. 25 in support of a House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that would strip the Affordable Care Act of funding, while leading Senate Democrats criticized the move as fueling economic peril. The Republican-majority House passed on Sept. 10 a CR that would provide government appropriations through Dec. 15 (see 13092031). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., encouraged Congress to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that retains health care appropriations before the Fiscal Year 2014 outset on Oct. 1, saying a government shutdown would cost the economy $30 billion a week (here). The Senate may vote on a CR in the coming days that must be sent back to the House for passage before Oct. 1 in order to avoid government shutdown.
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The Senate Democratic caucus will not negotiate defunding the Affordable Care Act, nor will it engage in political gamesmanship over averting a prospective October debt default, Chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee Patty Murray, D-Wash., told a committee hearing Sept. 24, hours before Cruz launched his marathon speech. “I really hope that Speaker Boehner and the rest of his Republican leadership will stand up to the extremist of the tea party minority that seem to be committed to crisis and stop the hostage taking … stop the political games,” said Murray, referring to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. The combination of sequestration, potential government shutdown and the possibility of failing to raise the debt ceiling in order to avert default is creating severe uncertain in the business community, including inhibiting hiring and entrepreneurship growth, said panelist Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
Potential debt default will be “cataclysmic,” argued Zandi, saying failure to pass a CR would prevent Americans from obtaining FHA loans and student loans and disrupt courts and tourism destinations, among other basic government provisions. “You can’t get an SBA loan, a small business loan, which is essential for small businesses … many small businesses are key to the middle class,” said Zandi. Ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said passing a CR and raising the debt ceiling do not address the systematic faults in U.S. economic policy. Moreover, Sessions said debt growth is fueling economic uncertainty that has failed to replace 9.9 million American jobs still lost since 2007. The rate of discouraged workers has gone up 140 percent in six years, Sessions said, saying the U.S. has coped with shutdowns in the past. “The government was shut down in the early 80s. It’s still here today as I understand. They shut it down in the 90s,” said Sessions. “We’re still here. So we don’t need to be panicked about the difficulties that are facing us … the need to reach an accord between our parties that will actually create policies that create growth and jobs and we’re not doing that now.”