Not a deadbeat nation
07/19/2011
We should be working together to create more jobs. Instead, Republican extremists are stubbornly holding our economy hostage and threatening us with a default crisis -- risking a catastrophe for America's families.
It's all because Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to protect sweetheart tax deals for Big Oil, big corporations, and millionaires & billionaires -- and demanding that we close the budget deficit on the backs of working families instead.
With just 15 days until the August 2 default deadline, the American people need to send Speaker John Boehner, House Republican Leader Eric Cantor, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell an urgent message:
Don't turn America into a deadbeat nation by pushing us into default on August 2 -- because of your inexplicable need to protect millionaires & billionaires and multi-national billionaire corporations.
What would the GOP's threatened government default on August 2 mean?
- Destroying more than half a million jobs
- Costing the average American family thousands of dollars in increased mortgage payments, credit card interest, and food and gas costs
- Wiping out thousands of dollars in retirement savings for every American family
President Obama and my Democratic colleagues want to address this Republican-instigated default crisis in a fair way. But national Republicans still stubbornly refuse to meet us halfway. Not even a quarter of the way. Not even 10% of the way.
They won't budge an inch -- even when the latest Gallup poll shows that the vast majority of Americans, and even the vast majority of Republicans, believe that we need more than budget cuts to close the deficit.
No, even after big corporations, Big Oil, and millionaires & billionaires have made off like bandits over the past few decades, Republicans won't lift a finger to do the right thing and ask these most fortunate of all Americans to pitch in a bit more.
That's wrong -- and Republican leaders need to know that the American people are watching.
The deadline for averting the Republican-instigated default crisis is August 2. Time is running out on these negotiations, and the window for reaching a fair agreement is quickly closing.
Let's be clear: We've routinely voted to raise the debt ceiling and avoid default crises 89 times since 1939 -- and 55 of those votes came during Republican administrations.
It's critical that we send national Republican leaders a powerful message.
America can't afford a default crisis -- and our working families cannot afford to pay the entire price of reducing the deficit.
Thanks for standing up and speaking out.
Sincerely,
Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator
P.S. We'll be delivering copies of our open letter to Speaker Boehner, House Republican Leader Cantor, and Senate Republican Leader McConnell in the next 72 hours -- so be sure you add your name today. And please share this message with everyone you know.