Congressman Sanford Bishop: First pay our bills, then debate future spending

Last weekend, we commemorated Memorial Day to honor those who died in military service to this country. As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, I work to ensure America provides the best care for its military, veterans, and families.

Yet today, we face a monumental crisis over whether Congress will allow America to default on paying our national debts. Over the years, we issued “promissory notes” in the form of spending bills to provide for America’s defense, national security, veterans, agriculture, nutrition, health care, housing, other needs.

We pay for it through taxes collected by the IRS. Every citizen and corporation must pay their fair share. Since 1970, IRS has been under-resourced and cannot collect $1 trillion in unpaid taxes annually. Tax cuts also shrink resources. When spending exceeds revenue, we must increase revenue and/or increase our credit limit to pay for goods and services to which the country has already committed. Congress has adjusted the debt limit 29 times under Democratic presidents and 49 times under Republican presidents, the last three times during the Trump Administration without preconditions.

Failure to adjust the debt limit triggers default and economic catastrophe. According to Moody’s Analytics, it would create a global market panic, weaken the U.S. dollar, increase interest rates and unemployment by 8%, eliminate 7 million jobs and $10 trillion in household wealth, and decrease GDP by 4%.

Moreover, default could disrupt payments to our military, veterans, and seniors. Over 65 million Americans could have their Social Security and Medicare benefits disrupted. It also jeopardizes the $100 billion in payments, each month, to Social Security beneficiaries. 18 million veterans could lose access to benefits they earned.

In April, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy led the GOP in a party-line vote to pass the Default on America Act. It holds the full faith and credit of the United States hostage unless Congress makes devastating cuts that will hurt the health, safety, and well-being of Americans OR ELSE they will allow America to default on its debts for the first time ever. This ransom note is extortion. It violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which mandates that our public debt, authorized by law “… shall not be questioned….” Members of Congress swear an oath to uphold the Constitution.

This ransom would rescind $2 billion for funding claims processing and appeals, health care, research, education, and training for veterans. It would drastically underfund, by $14.7 billion, the Toxic Exposure Fund created in the bipartisan PACT Act to ensure veterans exposed to toxic substances will always be cared for. It allows the transfer of $4.5 billion in dedicated medical funding outside health care. 13 million fewer outpatient visits, 25,000 fewer decisions from the Board of Veterans Appeals, and 300 fewer staff, dishonors our veterans.

Agriculture and rural America could be devastated. The ransom takes food from women and children, vulnerable people, veterans, and seniors through additional work requirements for SNAP. It reduces WIC fruit and vegetable vouchers to 4.6 million women and children and cuts $1.2 billion to families and farmers.

Agriculture producers are still recovering from natural disasters and trade wars. The ransom eliminates $2 billion in FSA farm loan modification assistance to distressed borrowers in danger of losing their farm operations. Last year, USDA kept 20,000 farmers in business.

Rural communities rely on crucial infrastructure requiring huge, up-front costs which their small tax base cannot afford. The ransom cuts rural water and waste disposal loans and grants, preventing the removal of arsenic and lead from drinking water.

Farmers face high input costs, but the ransom rescinds $500 million from the REAP program which helps lower their energy bills with energy-efficient projects. It slashes $3.5 billion from over 900 non-profit rural electric co-ops, causing a huge rate hike for their customers in 48 states, including 92% of persistent poverty counties.

I strongly support fiscal responsibility. But Congress should pay our debts and then robustly debate spending and revenue collection in regular order through the appropriations process. The GOP should put people over politics and America’s economy over chaos.

Let us be responsible stewards and prevent a default so that those who died did not do so in vain.