Rep. Trone Calls On Congress To Raise The Debt Ceiling
Credit: WFMD
Frederick, Md (KM) Sixth District Representative David Trone (D) says Congress needs to act now on raising the debt ceiling. He says we can’t let the US default on its obligations, or there could be consequences for the economy.
Trone says the debt ceiling is not about spending more money. “The debt ceiling is about paying the bills we already we owe. The dollars that we owe for the five, ten, 20 years, we have to pay the bills,” he says. “It’s like your credit card bill. You have to pay your credit card bills. We all know that.”
Some Republicans in the House of Representatives have called for federal spending cuts before they’ll agree to raise the debt ceiling. Trone says reducing spending is a different issue. “Now, if you want to cut the budget, cut the deficit, be more fiscally responsible, I’m all in,” he says. “As a business guy, I’m all in. We’d like to one day give you a budget that balanced somehow. Absolutely.”
The debt ceiling is the limit on the amount of money the federal government can borrow to pay its debts and other obligations. The US reached its debt limit of $31.4-trillion in January, and the Treasury Department has taken a series of “extraordinary measures”: to allow the government to continue borrowing money to meet its obligations.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the US will exhaust its emergency measures to prevent a default sometime between July and September of this year unless Congress acts to raise the debt celling. Representative Trone says a default by the federal government could have an adverse affect on the economy. “It will totally crash the Stock Market. We’ll have unemployment spiking. Businesses won’t be able to get credit,” he says. “Default is not an option. It is not an option.”
Trone says the debt ceiling issue has reached this level because “a handful of Republicans are playing games.” :”So they are going for personal, political glory to be on the news, to make sound bites,” he continues. “They didn’t take Economics 101 They missed the class. If they took it, they got an ‘F.’ Shame on them for putting their personal fundraising efforts above our country. Shame on them!”
This debt ceiling situation needs to be to resolved soon, he says. “We can rob Peter to pay Paul and play games. But if we don’t get the thing resolved soon, we default on our debt,” he says. “It’s like if you don’t pay your mortgage and you don’t pay your credit car bills, it’s a bad day for you and your family.”
