Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) today voted against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt limit bill that seeks to impose devastating cuts to nondefense discretionary spending, including vital social safety net programs and critical climate rescue provisions, in exchange for less than a year of protection from a catastrophic default on the nation’s financial obligations.

“Congress has a responsibility to pay its bills and to maintain programs that families, seniors, and veterans rely upon to meet basic needs,” said Rep. Scanlon. “This extremist Republican bill manufactures a false choice in order to force cuts to programs that the Republican majority does not support. Rather than seeking solutions to the issues faced by Americans, like affordable health and child care, gun safety, and climate rescue, Republicans are threatening to wreck our economy, either by defaulting on US financial obligations or by gutting supports that provide economic opportunity to everyone, from the bottom up and the middle out. I voted no on H.R. 2811 because it's time to stop playing political games, save our economy, and responsibly invest in America to lower costs and create better-paying jobs.”

House Republicans' extreme demands will:

• Put 519,000 people at risk of losing Medicaid coverage in Pennsylvania.
• Threaten access to food assistance for 40,000 people aged 50-55 in Pennsylvania.
• Eliminate preschool and child care for at least 15,500 children in Pennsylvania.
• Increase housing costs for at least 23,800 people in Pennsylvania.
• Make college more expensive for at least 189,200 students in Pennsylvania.
• Repeal investments in cleaner, cheaper energy—threatening clean energy and manufacturing jobs.

If Republicans don't get their way, they're threatening to default on our nation's bills, unleashing economic catastrophe and putting vital government services at risk. Their default would:

• Kill about 7,600 jobs in PA-05 alone. Nationwide, a default could kill more than 7 million jobs.
• Jeopardize Social Security payments for 93,000 families in PA-05.
• Put health benefits at risk for 269,000 people in PA-05 who rely on Medicare, Medicaid, or Veterans Affairs health coverage.
• Increase lifetime mortgage costs for the typical homeowner in Pennsylvania by $37,000.
• Raise the costs of a new car loan for the typical American by $800.
• Threaten the retirement savings of 99,400 people near retirement in PA-05, eliminating $20,000 from the typical retirement portfolio. 

House Democrats have already cut the deficit by historic levels, and President Biden’s budget reduces deficits by $3 trillion more over the next 10 years while investing in America – lowering costs by making child care, health care, and housing more affordable, supporting better schools, and strengthening infrastructure.

###