Republicans Gambling With Their Own Local Communities

Republicans seem hellbent on throwing the country off the debt cliff in a game of petty partisan politics that could cost the country billions. But what’s really at stake?

If the country defaults on the debt, the effects would be catastrophic to Medicaid, school districts, and food assistance programs in the communities of the same Republicans playing this reckless game.

Associated Press: “States would face severe Medicaid shortfalls because the federal government covers two-thirds of the costs. About 20% of Americans get their health insurance through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Roughly $100 billion in infrastructure grants for highways, airports and public transit would be jeopardized. The more than $50 billion for special education, school districts serving poorer students and other programs would also be threatened, as would $30 billion in food assistance and $10 billion for public health.”

White House Memo: “Hitting the debt ceiling could cause a recession. Economic growth would falter, unemployment would rise, and the labor market could lose millions of jobs.”

Today, the United States Conference of Mayors, the group of local officials who would be most affected by a default on our debt, called on Congress to uphold it’s bipartisan responsibility to the full faith and credit of the United States.

United States Conference of Mayors: “Failure to increase the debt limit would send our economy into freefall and destroy the federal-local partnership that is so important to American cities. Health care, food security, education and housing would all be in grave danger. A default would also trigger catastrophic ripple effects through credit markets and hamper the ability of city governments to finance our own services. This is no time to allow partisan politics to reverse the progress we’ve made. Congress must act now to secure our economic future and maintain our global standing.”

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