Press Releases
Classic MAGA Buck Passing: Downgrade Edition
The MAGA House majority has gone into full PR damage control mode in response to the U.S. credit downgrade announced Tuesday by ratings agency Fitch, which cited among other factors “repeated debt-limit political standoffs,” “the January 6th insurrection,” and “tax cuts” like the deficit-ballooning Trump-era tax breaks for corporations and the super-wealthy. As everyday American families now brace for higher interest rates on everything from mortgages to new cars due to the downgrade, several MAGA House members – including some of the most insistent instigators of the 100% manufactured near-default crisis this year and others who paved the way for downgrade — have ironically been among the loudest voices trying to pass the buck. Among them:
- The House Freedom Caucus, which reached new lows in hypocrisy with claims “The Biden Administration Played Politics With A Possible Government Default.” In reality, the Freedom Caucus masterminded the MAGA House Majority’s manufactured default scheme to hold the nation’s debt obligations and economy hostage over supposed debt ‘concerns’ in exchange for deep non-starter cuts aimed at seniors, veterans, workers and children. Freedom Caucus member Matt Gaetz openly called the U.S. economy “our hostage” to get the harmful cuts passed in the House default bill. Freedom Caucus members like Ralph Norman (R-SC) insisted to the bitter end they would not accept anything less than the middle-class-shrinking House default bill.
- U.S. Reps. Roger Williams (R-TX), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Jason Smith (R-MO), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO) all blamed the downgrade on Biden for government spending that actually surged during the Trump administration. These members all ignored Fitch’s concerns over “the January 6th insurrection” – likely because each tried to finish what the January 6th insurrectionists started and further stoked dangerous election conspiracies by voting to throw out the 2020 election results.
- Doubling Down of Trickle-Down: Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Jason Smith (R-MO) blamed the downgrade on ‘wasteful spending.’ Yet just weeks after the national default was narrowly avoided, Smith advanced a trillion dollar debt exploding tax break package for giant corporations – further demonstrating how empty MAGA debt ‘concerns’ were all along.
- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who in May 2023, just days before the nation was set to default on its debt, insisted he would not raise taxes or put a clean debt ceiling on the floor, adding work requirements for social safety net programs was a “‘red line.’”
The MAGA House Majority loves to play the blame game, but under minimal scrutiny it often turns out that their partisan accusations are projected admissions of guilt. In this case, the record is especially clear — it’s the MAGA Majority Downgrade. Had the MAGA Majority done its job from the beginning and allowed the nation to pay its bills with no harmful strings attached against seniors and veterans, there would not have been no default crisis. Had 147 Republicans in Congress not voted to throw out the 2020 election results even after the violent Capitol coup attempt, we would not have seen the same levels of distrust in our democratic system. Had Republicans in Congress not rubber stamped multi-trillion Trump tax breaks for corporations and billionaires, the deficit would be in far better shape today. And yet the MAGA Majority is trying right now to give corporations another costly trillion dollar tax break to corporations that ship jobs overseas, which has never worked to grow the middle class.”
