Credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty
Democratic lawmakers and economists placed the blame squarely on the Republican Party after Fitch downgraded the United States’ long-term credit rating on Tuesday, citing repeated standoffs over the nation’s debt ceiling in recent years.
The downgrade from AAA—the highest possible rating—to AA+ came months after President Joe Biden and House Republicans reached an agreement to lift the debt ceiling until January 2025, setting the stage for another potentially damaging fight just after the presidential election.
Earlier this year, Republicans—led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)—used the need to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a catastrophic default as leverage to pursue sweeping federal spending cuts, more punitive work requirements for aid recipients, and other right-wing priorities.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said Tuesday that the credit downgrade “rests on the shoulders of Speaker McCarthy and the extreme MAGA Republicans who openly rooted for default.”
“For years, Republicans […]
I really enjoy these types of articles, they are very magical:
““For years, Republicans were warned that their repeated brinksmanship and deficit-funded tax giveaways for the wealthy and big corporations would have consequences and now, for the second time in American history, Republican extremism and recklessness has undercut the American economy,” said Boyle, referencing a 2011 downgrade by the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.”
Note the magical act of making the defense budget disappear? You wouldn’t even know it exists, or that it too substantially contributes to the problem. This is the bipartisan workings of the empire.
If we took money in the form of taxes from just 1 rich man who is worth over 100 Billion Dollars, we could pay off all of our national debt and he would still be rich. We could also help some of the poor disabled people like myself, that would be a big help, too!