John,

Tonight, the U.S. Senate will vote on a stop-gap funding bill to keep the government running and vote to allow the federal government to keep borrowing money to pay its bills.

In the past, these have been simple bipartisan votes, no matter who controls Congress or who’s in the White House. While Donald Trump was president, the debt limit was adjusted three times with bipartisan votes.

But now, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is recklessly refusing to allow the federal government to borrow money to cover expenses long-since approved by Congress―threatening payments on everything from Medicare and Medicaid to veterans’ benefits, education, and even Social Security.

Click here to write to your U.S. senators and demand they vote YES to allow the federal government to continue to meet its fiscal obligations and keep the government running.

The consequences of simply saying no to raising the debt limit will be extremely harmful to millions of Americans in the weeks ahead. By mid-October, the federal government will begin to run out of money, resulting in $80 billion in lost payments to Social Security beneficiaries, veterans and active-duty military service members.[1]

Further, economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics estimates that 6 million jobs will be lost and that unemployment will rise to 9%. It is unthinkable that Senate Minority Leader McConnell―or any member of Congress―would vote for the U.S. government to default on its existing obligations.

But the economic pain caused by not passing these bills goes even further than the households of working families and retirees. A default on our debt will result in rising interest rates, hurting businesses throughout our economy, potentially moving us back into a recession.

Plus, a government shutdown will threaten funding for critical programs including disaster relief for hurricanes and wildfires, aid for Afghan refugees, public health, education, housing, nutrition for women, infants and children, Head Start for low-income children and families, and so much more. An irresponsible vote against this funding will leave just three days to avert a shutdown.

Write to your U.S. senators right now and demand they vote YES to allow the federal government to meet its existing fiscal obligations and to keep the government running.

A vote otherwise is an astounding abdication of duty that hurts our families, businesses and economy.

Thank you,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs