The 14th Amendment: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law…shall not be questioned.” SCOTUS upheld this in Perry v US which said “Congress is without the power to abrogate the obligations of the United States in an attempt to lessen government expenditures.”

The 2022 debt was approved by law and passed on a bi-partisan vote. That money is already spent and it has NOTHING to do with the budget for new spending. This is not a normal budget stand-off, but about our obligations as a nation.

Defaulting would put our economy in turmoil. Our government will no longer pay SS, Medicare, military, border control, the FAA, veteran’s benefits, public health; ports and airports will close and everything will stop. The CBO states that more than 8 million jobs will be lost immediately.

Defaulting would mean the US dollar would no longer be the default global currency: we would be handing that to China. We would become a failed state.

Yet the Republicans are holding the debt ceiling, and American’s livelihoods hostage to the budget (which should be negotiated as it has been for the last 200+ years.) The Republican proposal on the budget MUST NOT be confused with the debt ceiling. (further putting our active duty and retired veterans – who rely on these programs – at risk.)

The proposed Republican budget would put SS, Medicare, SNAP at risk; defund the police (FBI, ATF, Border Patrol), and defund 22% of the VA and13M less medical visits for veterans.

President Biden has the legal and constitutional authority to pay the debt, without Congress. He must do this; it’s time to take a chapter from the Republican playbook and play dirty.

ELIZABETH MOLINARO,

Rogers City