Letter to the Editor - The Millerton News - 5-18-23

Molinaro and the nation’s default crisis

Our country is facing a default crisis caused by Speaker McCarthy’s bill that would allow the federal government to pay its debts (as Republicans have voted to do whenever their party controls the White House) only on the condition that drastic budgetary cuts be made. Those cuts would mean slashing funds for: nutritional assistance for poor mothers and infants, cancer research, air traffic control, Head Start and other educational programs, and processing Social Security Claims.

Most Americans do not support defaulting on our country’s debt — causing widespread economic hardships. And I do not believe that most Americans support Speaker McCarthy’s holding our country’s economic stability hostage so that he can ram through budgetary cuts that would satisfy his most extreme right-wing supporters (on whom he depends to maintain his speakership) but would have a devastating effect on so many people — especially seniors, children and other vulnerable Americans. As District 18 Congressman Pat Ryan has said: these cuts “are just cruel, and they would have catastrophic consequences for American families.”

Yet Congressman Molinaro, while acknowledging that the debt ceiling must be raised in order to avoid a default, voted for McCarthy’s bill, justifying fair “negotiation” with the White House. This position is irrational on its face: if the debt ceiling must be raised, it is irresponsible to agree to do so only on certain conditions. Doing the right thing means doing the right thing — whether or not one gets something in return.

Amy Rothstein

Pine Plains