Time for Biden to Invoke the 14th Amendment

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.

So it has come to this. House Republicans are about to force the U.S. government to default on paying its debts — obligations that the Congress voted to make. They bluster that they will blow up the economy, tank the dollar, and destroy America’s good faith and credit unless they get their way — even as they are bitterly divided about what “their way” means. The stakes are unfathomable — and so it is worth being clear about what is happening.

According to the Treasury secretary, June 1 is the likely date when the U.S. will hit the so-called “debt ceiling” unless Congress acts. The debt ceiling is a silly gimmick that limits what the U.S. can borrow, even to pay the obligations that the Congress has already committed. Under Donald Trump — who ran up a staggering percentage of the U.S. national debt because of his tax cuts and military and pandemic spending — Democrats agreed to raise the debt ceiling repeatedly without any conditions. What they should have done was repeal the debt ceiling completely.

Now House Republicans want to use it as a weapon of mass destruction to get their way. Since they know that Americans can be scared about debt and deficits, they claim to be concerned about rising deficits, although deficits have been coming down since Trump left office and the pandemic relief measures expired.

In reality, they are more passionate about tax cuts for the than they are about curbing “out of control” spending. So they focus on cutting programs for the most vulnerable, even about priorities. They favor tax breaks for the rich and corporations and cuts and punitive measures on any program that provides aid to the vulnerable — Medicaid, student aid, income support, aid for women with dependent children, housing, schools. They demand a complete roll back of Biden’s efforts to address climate change. They would revive billions in tax breaks for oil companies and repeal incentives for renewable energy or elective vehicles. wealthy and corporations than they are about reducing deficits. They refuse to consider any package that asks the rich and corporations to pay their part.

They are also more passionate about military spending though it is the military budget that has been rising the fastest, and is the biggest source of waste, fraud and abuse in the government.

In the end, their extortion isn’t about debt or deficits but

They demand a roll back of Biden’s initiatives to reduce the price of drugs — a gift to the Big Pharma lobby. They even want to roll back funding for the IRS to crack down on tax avoidance and fraud by the wealthy — which would provide billions