David Schweikert slams Democrats for debt ceiling: ‘We have to get our fiscal house in order’
Misty Severi
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Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) slammed Democrats over debt ceiling negotiations on Thursday, stating it was time for the “clown show” to begin and mockingly urging his Democratic counterparts to buy calculators.
Schweikert claimed that there was a “lack of understanding” in the United States when it comes to the scale of the national debt.
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“If you care about the survival of your republic, understand that in nine years the national debt gets so bad that even if you get rid of all of defense, all of discretion, so there’s no White House or [Environmental Protection Agency], or government at all, you still have to borrow hundreds of billions just to cover Medicare,” Schweikert told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. “People have no idea the demographic headwind of baby boomers that are retiring … In nine years, seniors will take a 25% cut in their Social Security check because President Biden took fixing Social Security off the table in his State of the Union.”
Schweikert continued, “These are huge issues, the clown show needs to begin, and I need my Democratic colleagues to buy calculators.”
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The congressman told the Washington Examiner’s Kaylee McGhee White during the interview that a focus in the debt ceiling negotiations needs to be on flattening the spending curve from the federal government, because of the “massive scale” of trouble the country is in economically.
“From my view of the world, it’s all about the math,” Schweikert said. “Just think about the faux rage Democrats have given for requesting something like $4 trillion over the next 10 years of flattening, in an environment where we’re scheduled to borrow over $21 trillion. I think there is just a lack of understanding of the scale of trouble we’re in.
“We have to get our fiscal house in order,” Schweikert warned in a tweet.
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Negotiations on raising the debt ceiling are ongoing, with Republicans demanding steep spending cuts be attached to any deal to raise the debt limit. The U.S. reached its debt limit in January, but the deadline to raise the amount of money the country can borrow in order to pay its debts will come in June. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the deadline for funding is June 1.
If the White House and Congress do not reach an agreement in time, the U.S. will default on its loans for the first time in U.S. history. This would cause an “economic catastrophe,” experts have warned, and could lead to delays in government funding for federal programs that include Social Security, Medicare, and SNAP food benefits.