John,

What happens if the U.S. defaults on its debt and can’t pay its bills? Without action by June 1st, millions of working people, seniors, veterans and more will find out.

A federal default would plunge the U.S. into an instant recession.[1] One million jobs would be lost in the first week with nearly eight million jobs lost if a default goes on for multiple weeks.[2]

Sixty-six million people who rely on Social Security each month would see their payments delayed. SNAP nutrition benefits for the poor would be delayed, as would Medicaid payments to states and Medicare payments to hospitals and doctors―devastating our health infrastructure, especially in rural communities.

Two million federal workers, 1.4 million active-duty military personnel, plus government contractors, would all see delays in payments. And veterans’ benefits, including disability payments and pensions, would be impacted.

Default would be devastating to working families still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

But so would caving to GOP demands to avoid default: trillions of dollars in cuts to vital public services those families depend on to get by and get ahead—services ranging from child care, to food assistance, to public safety. Economists have warned that enacting the GOP House-passed package would drive up job losses, crush economic growth, and impoverish millions of Americans.[3]

And if that weren’t bad enough, news reports have indicated that Republicans are close to winning concessions from the White House to claw back newly enacted funding for IRS tax enforcement, effectively giving wealthy tax cheats a tax cut and making the deficit worse.[4]

President Biden and the American people should not accept either disaster—default or destructive policy concessions. Both would cost jobs, hurt working families, and damage the economy

Instead we must tax the rich and corporations so they pay their fair share of taxes.

Write to your senators and representative right now and demand they reject these reckless and unnecessary attacks on working people and our economy. Tell them to resolve the default crisis without causing unnecessary harm to seniors, working people, and vulnerable communities.

Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans are not negotiating in good faith. They have flatly rejected raising any new revenue with fairer taxes on the wealthy. Instead, they plan to introduce their own tax plan next month that would lower taxes on the rich by renewing expiring or already-expired portions of the Trump tax scam―adding $3.5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.[5]

Write to Congress now and demand they resolve the default crisis without causing harm to seniors, working people, and vulnerable communities. Congress must select options that put working people first—not wealthy campaign contributors.

Along with our national allies, we’re steering tens of thousands of calls and letters to Capitol Hill. We must keep the pressure on to not only avert a default, but to avoid punishing budget cuts and instead raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

Thank you,

David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

[1] “The Potential Economic Impacts of Various Debt Ceiling Scenarios,” The White House, May 3, 2023
[2] “5 ways a debt default could affect you,” CNN, May 2, 2023
[3] “Written Testimony of Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics,” U.S. Senate Budget Committee, May 4, 2023
[4] “Oppose Repeal of of IRS Funding in Biden/McCarthy Negotiations,” Americans for Tax Fairness, May 25, 2023
[5] “Budgetary Outcomes Under Alternative Assumptions About Spending and Revenues,” Congressional Budget Office, May 16, 2023