MILITARY READINESS
Economists have spent months raising the prospect of economic disaster if the government defaults, and top military officials added to their dire assessment on Thursday, warning that the crisis would have a “significant negative impact” on troops.
“Preparation will obviously have an impact. So our large-scale exercises that we do at various training centers will probably either slow down or stop in many, many cases,” said Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. reporters at the Pentagon.
McCarthy said lawmakers would receive 24 hours’ notice if called for a recess vote, with Republican and White House negotiators reportedly bridging their differences.
Speaking on Fox News Thursday, the speaker rejected calls for a “clean” bill and added that he would not agree to tax increases on corporations or the wealthy as an alternative to cuts to reduce the nation’s $31 trillion-plus debt burden.
He pointed to a CNN poll this week in which 60 percent of respondents said raising the debt ceiling should be accompanied by cuts, although 51 percent of respondents to a new Monmouth University poll said they wanted the two issues separated.
“We know where our differences lie and we will continue to be around the table trying to resolve this issue,” McCarthy said.
“MANUFACTURED CRISIS”
White House chief of staff Jeff Zayens suggested Republican complaints about out-of-control government spending are disingenuous, pointing to their plan to extend Donald Trump-era tax cuts that Democrats say will add $3.5 trillion to the debt.
“Clearly there is no concern about blowing up the deficit as long as it affects 0.1 percent of American households,” he tweeted.
Raising the permissible level of public debt, which in many countries is the work of bureaucrats rather than politicians, will have no effect on future spending. it simply gives the government an opportunity to repay already approved and implemented loans.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told investors at a conference in Washington that the threat of default is a “manufacturing crisis” that is already raising borrowing costs and costs for Americans.
Without efforts to speed up the normal process, any deal would take at least 10 days to craft into legislative language, pass the House and Senate, and reach Biden’s desk.
A batch of Social Security payments worth about $25 billion is scheduled for June 2, and those payments could be halted if the Treasury Department can’t cover the loan repayments.
About 27 million Americans would fall into poverty without Social Security.