“Ordinary Americans” don’t care about the government. Close

Firebrand Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said most Americans aren’t worried about a government shutdown.

If the White House and the Republican-led House of Representatives fail to reach an agreement within the next eight days, the government risks defaulting on its debt for the first time in US history. If Congress does not raise the debt ceiling by $31.5 trillion, it could lead to catastrophic consequences, including government shutdown. The US Treasury has pleaded with lawmakers to act, saying the United States could run out of money to pay bills as early as June 1, which economic experts say will trigger national and global economic crises.

Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have both said a bipartisan deal is the only way forward as they have been locked in a stalemate for weeks. However, Democrats want to increase spending on certain programs and are calling on Republicans to raise the limit without preconditions, as Congress has done repeatedly in the past. Republicans, meanwhile, are holding firm to their vow not to raise the limit without cutting spending. A deal must pass through both the GOP-controlled House and the Democratic-led Senate.

Newsweek contacted by email and social media representatives of Greene and the US Treasury.

As time is running out, McCarthy said Wednesday he would use a legislative rule that requires the House to consider and vote on a bill within 72 hours. His party’s Limit, Save, Grow Act aims to raise the debt ceiling only if the national debt is reduced by introducing spending limits. The measure also calls on the government to recover unspent COVID-19 funds and implement revised work requirements for people receiving federal benefits, among other things.

Greene weighed in on the negotiations and the debt ceiling standoff during an episode of former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast on Wednesday. While discussing the debt limit, Greene said she wanted evidence that the United States will default from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who sent another letter to Congress warning of the dire consequences that a default could have. would result.

“If Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, it would cause serious hardship for American families, harm our position as a global leader, and raise questions about our ability to advance our national security interests,” Yellen wrote. in his letter on Monday.

Greene told Bannon that the Republicans “don’t sweat at all”. She said members of her party were not “freaking out” or even worried about the June 1 deadline, calling it “a mystery date that Janet Yellen dismissed”.

His comments echo those of fellow GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, who said Tuesday that Yellen needed to “show his work” to find out how the secretary determined the deadline. The Florida Republican said he doesn’t believe the first of the month is a “true deadline.”

Greene called on Yellen to “show evidence” and asked why “all of a sudden” the default was going to happen on June 1, calling it “smoke and mirrors.”

“Like this is really going to bring America down,” she said, adding that the only people “pissed off” by the impending deadline are “probably the men at the New York Stock Exchange.”

“Ordinary Americans living their day-to-day lives aren’t worried about the government shutdown,” the Republican from Georgia said.

Although the congresswoman said ‘ordinary Americans’ aren’t affected, a recent poll by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that a majority of Americans are concerned about the risk of defaulting on the country’s trillions of dollars of debt. About 66% of respondents to the poll conducted earlier this month said they were “extremely or very concerned” about the ramifications that would ensue if the national debt ceiling was not raised.

As the impasse over the debt limit continues on Capitol Hill, Biden has said he is ready to strike a deal on spending cuts. However, the president said he would not allow Republicans to use the debt ceiling increase as a bargaining tool. GOP lawmakers have said they will not cut defense spending, Social Security and Medicare, nor will they consider raising taxes on the wealthy. Democrats said Republicans’ slate of demands would leave food, housing and education programs vulnerable.

Both Biden and McCarthy called recent discussions “productive” and said congressional leaders agree that a “default is not really on the table.”