As congressional Republicans continue to play politics with America’s future and block legislation to raise the debt limit, local opinion pages across the country are calling them out for risking a default on our nation’s debt and sending our economy into a tailspin. 

See a sampling of the coverage for yourself: 

In Indiana:

Indy Star: Briggs: Todd Young, Mike Braun are acting like children over the debt ceiling
By James Briggs, Columnist

No one is provoking Republicans into this insanity. If Republican senators don’t like Democratic legislation, they can vote no on it, just as Democrats voted against the Republican agenda during the Trump years. Trump said and did some mean things at the time, but Democrats supported debt ceiling increases anyway because they aren’t masochists.

[…]

Young and Braun are real-life figures willfully pushing us toward an uncharted dystopia. They are demonstrating bad judgement on a disqualifying scale for a U.S. senator — and, yet, they blend into the crowd as they stand hand-in-hand with every other Republican who is willing to let one day after another slip toward a potential financial collapse.

In Iowa: 

Des Moines Register: Opinion: Debt ceiling negotiations again see Republicans misleading and endangering
By Hans Isakson, Guest columnist 

Raising the debt ceiling has almost never been a partisan issue, like the Republicans have made it during the past two Democratic administrations. It has been raised or suspended over 100 times with barely a peep since being established in 1917. 

[…]

So, once again the Republicans are playing chicken with the debt ceiling, a very dangerous game. The debt ceiling must be increased so that the bills can be paid. 

In New York: 

New York Daily News: Politically bankrupt: Senate Republicans are happy for the U.S. to default on its debt
By The Editorial Board

Journey with us, if you will, all the way back to August 2019. In a budget deal passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, Washington suspended the U.S. debt limit for two years — two years in which Republicans refrained from pitching a fit every time the U.S. needed to borrow more money.

And borrow we did, under an administration and Congress that slashed taxes by trillions while dramatically increasing federal spending, even before the COVID crisis hit. With aid of three separate increases to the debt ceiling, the federal debt soared by nearly $7.8 trillion during Trump’s four-year tenure — the third biggest increase relative to the size of the economy of any presidency in history (after Lincoln, who fought a civil war, and George W. Bush, who launched two foreign wars).

It is therefore the purest form of chutzpah for Sen. Mitch McConnell and other Republicans who facilitated Trump’s reckless record to now lay down in the middle of the tracks and refuse to raise the government’s debt limit as a fiscal freight train barrels toward us, toying with America’s full faith and credit.

[…]

In Oklahoma: 

Tulsa World: Editorial: Oklahoma senators ought to vote for increasing borrowing limit to avoid possible financial crisis

The now-routine political bickering over the debt ceiling has become as tiresome as it is critical to the nation.

Increasing the U.S. borrowing limit used to enjoy bipartisan support to avoid defaulting on loans. It received little attention because lawmakers recognized its necessity.

Loan defaults could trigger government shutdowns and a financial crisis. This possibility as the U.S. digs out from under a pandemic shutdown has disastrous possibilities.

In Massachusetts: 

The Republican: Mitch McConnell and GOP can’t be serious on debt limit (Editorial)
By The Editorial Board

What’s at the core of this moment’s McConnell show is the federal debt ceiling. The Kentucky Republican, who is currently the Senate minority leader, has been doing what he does best — folding his arms, standing in the way and saying “no.”

[…]

There is literally no one in any position of importance who believes that the federal government won’t boost the statutory debt ceiling. No one. If Democrats need to do it on their own, they’ll find a way to do it on their own. As such, they’ll demonstrate that theirs is a rational, serious party, and that today’s McConnell-led Republicans are just playacting.