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Far-Right Freedom Caucus Is All-or-Nothing on Unreasonable Default Demands

WASHINGTON, DC —Less than two weeks away from a catastrophic default crisis that all but guarantees a deep recession, and the fringe-right Freedom Caucus of the MAGA House Majority insist they will not accept anything less than the extreme House default plan passed last month that punishes millions of low-income veterans, seniors and children while undermining public safety and costing 8 million Americans their jobs. Their brinkmanship follows Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s own unreasonable “red line” that any default deal must include ineffective work requirements that fail to put people to work while leaving many more uninsured. The Speaker’s warped priorities follow his endorsement last month of the Republican House bill that makes Trump-era tax breaks permanent for the wealthy and big corporations, which the Congressional Budget Office found would add $3.5 trillion to debt over the next 10 years.

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The nation is days away from a disastrous default crisis and the extreme MAGA Majority is splintering into camps of the unreasonable and the absurd. While House Republicans draw different red lines and move goal posts, they remain unified on keeping the nation from paying its bills and risking a recession unless vulnerable Americans are punished in some way for being poor. The MAGA House insists on pushing even more Americans into poverty with burdensome aid barriers that fail to put people to work but succeed at denying basic health security to thousands – all while they protect trillions in wasteful tax giveaways for billionaires and corporations that ship jobs overseas. Demonstrating just how empty the MAGA Majority’s debt ‘concerns’ really are, they plan to give billionaires and big corporations more tax breaks that would cost 30 times more than the ‘savings’ from ripping food aid and life-saving health coverage from families in need.”

Liz Zelnick, Director of Accountable.US’ Economic Security & Corporate Power.

TODAY IN FOCUS: MAGA Majority’s Demands for Counterproductive Work Requirements Eclipsed by Cost of Their Plan to Give More Tax Breaks to the Wealthy and Corporations:  

  • This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the Republican plan (endorsed by Speaker McCarthy and backed by 96 House Republican co-sponsors) make these Trump-era tax breaks permanent would add at least $3.5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade — effectively erasing all the $3.2 trillion of discretionary budget cuts that House Republicans passed under their default bill last month that target critical priorities like education and public safety.
  • The Tax Policy Center previously found that extending the Trump tax cuts would deliver an average tax cut for the top 0.1 percent of households (those making more than about $4.5 million) of $175,000 per year.
  • House Republicans pushing the bill making the Trump-era tax breaks for the rich permanent neglect to mention they would cost more than 30 times the savings from the House default bill’s work requirement proposals that push more Americans into poverty and health and food insecurity.

BACKGROUND: The extreme MAGA House Majority is threatening to manufacture a catastrophic default crisis and economic collapse. To hold the economy hostage, the House passed a long list of hugely unpopular and extreme ransom demands that promise pain for millions of average Americans including veterans, seniors, students, children, workers, and the food insecure. They voted to ship 100,000 high paying manufacturing jobs overseas while going out of their way to protect wealthy tax cheats. The MAGA Majority’s proposed cuts are untenable, unworkable, and unreasonable, especially as they leave in place costly tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. With the nation now projected to run out of money as early as June 1st, Accountable.US’ Cost Of MAGA Default’ project continues to underscore the catastrophic consequences of a MAGA default that grows closer by the day.

 

Accountable.US’ ‘Cost of MAGA Default’ project puts a daily spotlight on specific harms the MAGA Majority’s default plan and brinkmanship will bring for Main Street and Wall Street alike – from tanking markets, frozen credit, lost jobs, disruptions to critical benefits like Social Security, and soaring interest rates on everything from car loans to mortgages. While the MAGA Majority claims they are holding the economy hostage over supposed debt ‘concerns,’ they insist on harmful cuts – crafted by the far-right House Freedom Caucus – aimed at average Americans while protecting and even expanding debt ballooning tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations that profiteer and ship U.S. jobs overseas. Not a deadbeat nation: The U.S. has never failed to pay its bills and Congress worked to prevent default 78 times since 1960, including 3 times during the Trump administration. The clock is ticking. The MAGA majority should stop playing dangerous political games with American lives and the economy and responsibly pass a clean bill that allows the nation to pay its bills. The sooner they do, the less damage will be inflicted on Americans of all walks of life. 

 

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