OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Letter to Democratic Leader Pelosi, Democratic Whip Hoyer, Assistant Democratic Leader Clyburn and Democratic Caucus Chair Larson

Letter

By: Peter Welch, Frederica Wilson, Jim Cooper, Niki Tsongas, Sheila Jackson Lee, Bobby Rush, Lynn Woolsey, Luis Gutiérrez, Chellie Pingree, Eleanor Norton, Raul Grijalva, Anna Eshoo, Bennie Thompson, Austin Scott, Pete Stark, Jim Moran, Jr., Steve Cohen, Henry Waxman, Bobby Scott, David Cicilline, Chaka Fattah, Sr., Hank Johnson, Jr., Nydia Velázquez, Barbara Lee, Jay Inslee, Louise Slaughter, Jan Schakowsky, David Wu, Dennis Kucinich, Al Green, Maurice Hinchey, Mark Critz, Lois Capps, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Doris Matsui, Bob Filner, Danny Davis, Norm Dicks, John Yarmuth, Steve Israel, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Diana DeGette, Carolyn McCarthy, Brad Sherman, Ed Perlmutter, John Olver, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Doc Hastings, G. K. Butterfield, Jr., Sam Farr, Russ Carnahan, Stephen Lynch, Ted Deutch, John Sarbanes, Colleen Hanabusa, Marcia Fudge, Jared Polis, Peter DeFazio, Eliot Engel, Chris Murphy, Yvette Clarke, Terri Sewell, Gregory Meeks, Bill Keating, Cedric Richmond, Anthony Weiner, Collin Peterson, Loretta Sanchez, Ben Luján, Jr., Gerry Connolly, Rush Holt, Jr., John Dingell, David Price, Jim McDermott, Eddie Johnson, Elijah Cummings, José Serrano, Leonard Boswell, Mel Watt, Paul Tonko, Tammy Baldwin, John Conyers, Jr., Jerry Costello, Lloyd Doggett II, Brad Miller, Jerry Lewis, John Garamendi, Donna Christensen, Carolyn Maloney, Mike Honda, Jackie Speier, Tim Ryan, Keith Ellison, Zoe Lofgren, Donna Edwards, Emanuel Cleaver II, Laura Richardson, Charlie Rangel, Marcy Kaptur, Jim Himes, Hansen Clarke, Earl Blumenauer, Betty Sutton, Ed Markey, Jim McGovern, Mike Doyle, Jr., Mazie Hirono, Madeleine Bordallo, André Carson, Joe Baca, Sr., Corrine Brown, Maxine Waters
Date: April 18, 2011
Issues: Government Budget and Spending

As the New York Stock Exchange dropped sharply this morning in reaction to a report that Standard & Poor's downgraded America's long-term credit outlook to negative, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) released the names of 114 House Democrats in support of raising the debt ceiling without conditions.

"America pays its bills," said Welch. "I hope Majority Leader Cantor and those in Congress seizing upon debt ceiling pressure as a 'leverage opportunity' are listening to the markets today and thinking twice about their risky strategy. Mr. Cantor should today abandon his dangerous plan to leverage America's duty to pay its bills to achieve a partisan advantage in budget disputes. By playing brinksmanship with the debt ceiling, he is willfully risking the full faith and credit of the United States of America. The markets have doubts about America's ability to get its fiscal house in order. And they are right. If Mr. Cantor persists in playing politics with the debt limit he will be held accountable for unleashing the financial hounds of hell."

Upon news that S&P reduced the outlook for the long-term U.S. debt rating to negative from stable, the S&P 500 declined 1.4 percent, its biggest drop since March 16. Yesterday, on NBC's Meet the Press, Treasury Secretary Geithner reiterated his view that "... if you allow people to start to doubt whether the United States of America will meet its obligations, that would be catastrophic, and we can't take that risk."

The full text of Welch's letter is copied below.

Signers include: Reps. Welch (D-Vt.), Baca (Calif.), Baldwin (Wis.), Blumenauer (Ore.), Bordallo (Guam), Boswell (Iowa), Brown (Fla.), Butterfield (N.C.), Capps (Calif.), Carnahan (Mo.), Carson (Ind.), Christensen (V.I.), Cicilline (R.I.), Clarke (Mich.), Clarke (N.Y.), Cleaver (Mo.), Cohen (Tenn.), Connolly (Va.), Conyers (Mich.), Cooper (Tenn.), Costello (Ill.), Critz (Pa.), Cummings (Md.), Davis (Ill.), DeGette (Colo.), DeFazio (Ore.), Deutch (Fla.), Dicks (Wash.), Dingell (Mich.), Doggett (Texas), Doyle (Pa.), Edwards (Md.), Ellison (Minn.), Engel (N.Y.), Eshoo (Calif.), Farr (Calif.), Fattah (Pa.), Filner (Calif.), Fudge (Ohio), Garamendi (Calif.), Green (Texas), Grijalva (Ariz.), Gutierrez (Ill.), Hanabusa (Hawaii), Hastings (Fla.), Himes (Conn.), Hinchey (N.Y.), Hirono (Hawaii), Holt (N.J.), Honda (Calif.), Inslee (Wash.), Israel (N.Y.), Jackson Jr. (Ill.), Jackson Lee (Texas), Johnson (Texas), Johnson (Ga.), Kaptur (Ohio), Keating (Mass.), Kucinich (Ohio), Lee (Calif.), Lewis (Calif.), Lofgren (Calif.), Lujan (N.M.), Lynch (Mass.), Maloney (N.Y.), Markey (Mass.), Matsui (Calif.), McCarthy (N.Y.), McDermott (Wash.), McGovern (Mass.), Meeks (N.Y.), Miller (N.C.), Moran (Va.), Murphy (Conn.), Norton (D.C.), Olver (Mass.), Pascrell (N.J.), Perlmutter (Colo.), Peterson (Minn.), Pingree (Maine), Polis (Colo.), Price (N.C.), Rangel (N.Y.), Richardson (Calif.), Richmond (La.), Roybal-Allard (Calif.), Rush (Ill.), Ryan (Ohio), Sanchez (Calif.), Sanchez (Calif.), Sarbanes (Md.), Schakowsky (Ill.), Scott (Ga.), Scott (Va.), Serrano (N.Y.), Sewell (Ala.), Sherman (Calif.), Slaughter (N.Y.), Speier (Calif.), Stark (Calif.), Sutton (Ohio), Thompson (Miss.), Thompson (Calif.), Tonko (N.Y.), Tsongas (Mass.), Velazquez (N.Y.), Waters (Calif.), Watt (N.C.), Waxman (Calif.), Weiner (N.Y.), Wilson (Fla.), Woolsey (Calif.), Wu (Ore.), Yarmuth (Ky.)

Dear Democratic Leader Pelosi, Democratic Whip Hoyer, Assistant Democratic Leader Clyburn and Democratic Caucus Chair Larson:

Congress will soon be required to vote on whether to extend the debt limit which, according to Secretary Geithner, will be breached by mid-May.

We ask you to convene a caucus to discuss and establish a Democratic position in favor of a clean extension of the debt ceiling.

The debt ceiling vote is about one thing: affirming that America pays its bills. It does not authorize new taxpayer obligations; it affirms to the world our commitment to pay obligations already incurred.

To do otherwise, or to threaten to do so, or to leverage our duty to pay our bills to achieve a partisan advantage in budget disputes, jeopardizes the full faith and credit of the United States of America.

Sincerely,

Peter Welch

MEMBER OF CONGRESS


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