The United States Senate voted tonight to go along with the House of Representatives in passing legislation negotiated by Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden that raises the debt ceiling in return for imposing Republican-demanded austerity measures on the country’s essential public services.
The so-called Fiscal Responsibility Act received yea votes from almost two-thirds of the Senate, passing 63–36. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Ed Markey, and John Fetterman voted no, along with independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and thirty-one Republican senators.
Passage of H.R. 3746 averts what would have been a self-inflicted financial catastrophe brought about by militant right wing Republicans obsessed with dismantling the country’s social contract, but at a steep cost to the American people. The deal contains a particularly disgusting giveaway to West Virginia’s fossil fuels loving Joe Manchin, who secured a provision requiring the construction of a polluting pipeline in his home state that has been held up in the courts.
President Biden plans to sign it into law quickly, likely sometime tomorrow.
The Department of the Treasury has previously said that its “extraordinary measures” would be exhausted as of June 5th, which is this coming Monday, so Biden had implored Congress to get him the bill by the end of this week, which it has now done. This necessitated the Senate’s rejection of a number of amendments, several of which were proposed by hardline ultra MAGA senators.
The roll call from the Pacific Northwest was as follows:
Voting Yea to pass the bill: Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell (WA), Ron Wyden (OR), Jon Tester (MT); Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Voting Nay to defeat the bill: Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley (OR), Republican Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch (ID), Steve Daines (MT); Dan Sullivan (AK)
Mitch McConnell provided seventeen Republican votes for the bill, including his own. Chuck Schumer delivered forty-six votes, which is more than twice as many.
“Tonight, Senators from both parties voted to protect the hard-earned economic progress we have made and prevent a first-ever default by the United States,” said President Biden. “Together, they demonstrated once more that America is a nation that pays its bills and meets its obligations — and always will be. I want to thank Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell for quickly passing the bill.”
“No one gets everything they want in a negotiation, but make no mistake: this bipartisan agreement is a big win for our economy and the American people.”
“It protects the core pillars of my Investing in America agenda that is creating good jobs across the country, fueling a resurgence in manufacturing, rebuilding our infrastructure, and advancing clean energy.”
“It safeguards peoples’ health care and retirement security, protecting bedrock programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It protects vital investments in hardworking families that help make our country strong—from child care and education, to public safety and Meals on Wheels. It protects my student debt relief plan for hardworking borrowers. And it honors America’s sacred obligation to our veterans by fully funding veterans’ medical care.”
“Our work is far from finished, but this agreement is a critical step forward, and a reminder of what’s possible when we act in the best interests of our country. I look forward to signing this bill into law as soon as possible and addressing the American people directly tomorrow.”
“When the full faith and credit of the United States was on the line, President Biden answered the call and delivered a historic bipartisan budget agreement for the American people,” said Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison.
“In a testament to his experience and leadership, President Biden successfully negotiated a deal that protected key priorities and the historic economic gains we have made over the last two years.”
“This agreement protects the health care of millions of Americans, strengthens our economic recovery, prevents cruel cuts to the programs that millions of American families rely on, and fully funds medical care for veterans.”
“President Biden was elected in part because of his ability to work across the aisle and get things done for the American people, and, once again, he delivered. He did his job to ensure America avoids an unprecedented default that could have led to a recession, millions of jobs lost, devastated retirement accounts, and higher borrowing costs for American families.”
“While these negotiations made clear that MAGA Republicans will stop at nothing – including holding our economy hostage – to enact their unpopular and dangerous agenda, the American people also now see that President Biden and Democrats will continue to find a way forward and never stop working to deliver for them.”
That hostage-taking was cited by our very own Senator Patty Murray in her comments on the Senate floor as very destructive for the country.
“Instead of working through the budget and appropriations process — as we do every year — to craft our nation’s budget and determine how we spend money, House Republicans just decided they would threaten to tank our economy and force the U.S. into default to extract partisan concessions,” stated Senator Murray. “We have heard House Republicans leaders and even the leader of the Republican Party talk openly about taking our economy and the American people ‘hostage.’”
“For House Republicans, this was never truly about the debt anyway,” said Murray. “Republicans added trillions to the debt under President Trump through tax giveaways for billionaires and giant corporations. But they refuse to even talk about asking billionaires to pay at least as much in taxes as a firefighter or a nurse.”
And sadly, thanks to Murray’s colleagues Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, Democrats failed to rescind the Trump tax cuts, permanently abolish the debt ceiling, or lock in the COVID-era improvements to the country’s social contract that Congress made as part of the American Rescue Plan, like the child tax credit. Democrats had control of both chambers last biennium, but could not properly use those majorities due to Manchin and Sinema’s perfidious behavior.
Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon was one of the few Democrats who refused to back the deal, concluding that it would be against his values to do so.
“Since the text of this legislation was released, I have immersed myself in the details and listened carefully to everyone’s points of view,” said Merkley prior to the floor debate. “I appreciate the diversity of opinion within the Congress and within my own caucus. Still, I cannot in good conscience vote for this bill.”
“This bill breaks with recent, established, and bipartisan practice, cutting programs that are the foundations for thriving families — including health care, housing, and education—to increase military spending.”
“In addition, this bill sets two truly horrific precedents: It completely exempts the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from following environmental law, even though the company building the pipeline is an egregious violator that has racked up more than five hundred violations in two states.”
“In addition, the bill dictates the court jurisdiction for the MVP should there be additional legal challenges. This profoundly undermines the integrity of our judiciary. For Congress to — by law — move a court case from one jurisdiction to another, to provide a special favor to a powerful corporation, is fundamentally corrupt. This is a line we should never cross. The pipeline itself is an assault against a sustainable planet. We must recognize that fossil gas is just as damaging as coal. Pretending otherwise is leading us to climate catastrophe.”
“Finally, this bill contains changes to bedrock environmental law that will allow fossil fuel companies to evade responsibility and accountability.”
“It allows companies to write their own environmental impact evaluations. It changes the standards for acceptable science and data. It exempts entire pipeline projects from federal environmental protections.
“I fully recognize that a debt default would be a disaster for working families and must never be allowed to happen. It’s unconscionable that MAGA Republicans and Speaker McCarthy were willing to entertain driving the economy over the default cliff at all. However, yielding to this blackmail only guarantees that Republicans will use the debt limit to hold America hostage time and time again.”
“We must end the hostage-taking, either by passing legislation like my Protect Our CREDIT Act or through the President exercising his executive power, such as the use of the 14th Amendment.”
“In sum, there is virtually nothing in this bill that matches what the people of Oregon care about, and a whole lot of stuff that will hurt them. I can’t throw them under the bus. I cannot in good conscience support this legislation.”
We agree with Senator Merkley’s assessment of this bill and thank him for voting no. There at least needed to be some Democratic nays on this roll call, and the good people of the Pacific Northwest who oppose the corruption and rot contained in this legislation were represented thanks to Senator Merkley.
U.S. Senate sends bill to raise debt ceiling, satisfy Republican ransom demands to Biden is a post from NPI's Cascadia Advocate, the journal of the Northwest Progressive Institute. Published continuously since March of 2004, NPI's Cascadia Advocate provides thoughtful commentary and analysis on regional, national, and world politics. Keep The Cascadia Advocate going by making a contribution to sustain NPI's research and advocacy here.