John,

We are running out of time before the United States defaults on its debt. This would be a fatal blow to the global economy and undermine the household finances of essentially all Americans.  

Together, we’re demanding the U.S. Senate vote to allow the federal government to pay its bills. Click here to write to your U.S. senators and demand they do their job, raise the debt ceiling, and allow the federal government’s bills to be paid.

There is no disagreement that defaulting on the federal debt would be a colossal, self-inflicted wound.  

CEOs from the Business Roundtable said in a letter to congressional leaders that inaction would cause an “economic crisis.”¹ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a default would be “catastrophic,” causing “irreparable” harm.² Economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics predicted that failing to raise the debt limit would result in 6 million jobs lost, the unemployment rate surging back up to 9 percent, and $15 trillion in household wealth lost.³

The Economic Policy Institute writes, “the mechanical shutdown of spending caused by hitting the debt ceiling would be sharper and larger than the one that led to the Great Recession.⁴

Yet still, Senate 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.

In the past, these have been routine, bipartisan votes, regardless of who controls Congress or who’s in the White House. (You may recall, even when Donald Trump was president, the debt limit was adjusted three times with bipartisan votes.)

In less than two weeks, 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.⁵ We’re hearing now that McConnell is proposing to postpone the crisis for a couple of months. But that’s no solution. If we can’t get rid of the irrational debt limit altogether, we need to suspend or raise it for at least a year. That’s what the House of Representatives voted for.

The economic pain caused by forcing the U.S. government to default on its obligations goes even further than the households of working families and retirees. A default on our debt will result in rising interest rates, a collapsing stock market, and a likely recession.

Can you take 1-minute to send a letter to your U.S. senators demanding they vote YES to allow the federal government to meet its existing fiscal obligations? (We have drafted a letter for you, so it only takes a few clicks.)

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

Thank you,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs