Congressman C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger | Official U.S.House headshot
Congressman C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger | Official U.S.House headshot
(Washington, DC) – Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger voted tonight in favor of legislation that will suspend the debt limit through January 2025, avoiding a first-ever default and protecting the hard-earned economic progress we have made over the last two years. The bill, which passed in a bipartisan 314-117 vote, includes a 2-year budget deal that avoids the worst of proposed cuts.
Economists said a default would have triggered a recession, cost millions of jobs and devastated Americans’ retirement accounts.
“Americans should know that most of us in Congress understand that compromise isn’t a dirty word. The debt ceiling crisis was manufactured by partisan idealogues willing to risk our nation’s full faith and credit to score political points and I am glad that common sense prevailed,” Congressman Ruppersberger said. “While we should have never been negotiating over something as sacred as our nation’s credit, this deal avoids the most extreme conditions proposed. Most importantly, it safeguards the historic progress we have made including 12 million new jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in more than five decades.”
At the beginning of negotiations, Republicans proposed a 22 percent cut and 10-year spending cap that would have slashed funding for veterans’ healthcare, law enforcement and childcare. The deal instead holds non-defense funding roughly flat in 2024 and increases it by 1 percent in 2025, when factoring in agreed-upon changes such as returning unspent COVID relief funds to federal coffers.
Congressman Ruppersberger opposed several measures that were ultimately included in the compromise, including a substantial recission of future IRS funding, permits for a natural gas pipeline in Virginia and new work conditions for SNAP beneficiaries who are 50-54 years old with no children.
“Ultimately, the IRS’ near-term plans remain on track. The climate wins in the Inflation Reduction Act will more than offset a new pipeline. And SNAP changes are phased-in and temporary,” Congressman Ruppersberger said. “While I strongly oppose these measures, they are compromises that still end in a net-victory for the American people.”
Original source can be found here.
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