Ben Ritz, Director of the Progressive Policy Institute’s Center for Funding America’s Future, released the following statement on the reported agreement-in-principle to raise the debt ceiling:
“Congress should immediately pass the debt limit increase and budget compromise negotiated by President Biden and Speaker McCarthy.
“On the one hand, this package does not represent our ideal policy. The decision to freeze spending only on domestic discretionary programs is backwards. This part of the budget funds critical long-term public investments in infrastructure, education, and scientific research. Meanwhile, taking both increased revenues and any cuts to other programs that comprise 85% of non-interest spending off the table in negotiations leaves our budget on a clearly unsustainable path. It is, at best, a punt on tackling our fiscal challenges.
“But on the other hand, this compromise is currently the only plausible way to take the threat of defaulting on the national debt off the table for the remainder of President Biden’s first term. Congress must pass it now, and in the future, lawmakers should seek out a better mechanism for encouraging fiscal discipline without calling into question our government’s constitutional obligation to repay its debts.”
PPI has consistently condemned the GOP’s efforts to take the full faith and credit of the United States hostage to extract ideological policy concessions. It has also supported the bipartisan Responsible Budgeting Act to end debt limit brinkmanship and create more sensible mechanisms for encouraging fiscal discipline.
PPI’s Center for Funding America’s Future works to promote a fiscally responsible public investment agenda that fosters robust and inclusive economic growth. It tackles issues of public finance in the United States and offers innovative proposals to strengthen public investments in the foundation of our economy, modernize health and retirement programs to reflect an aging society, and transform our tax code to reward work over wealth.
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C., with offices in Brussels, Berlin and the United Kingdom. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.
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Media Contact: Amelia Fox – afox@ppionline.org
