Self-sabotage

To the editor:

President Joe Biden in his first speech from the Oval Office, called the agreement to raise the debt ceiling a “big win.” This big win demonstrates the failure of the Democratic Party establishment and its leadership to be a progressive alternative to the right-wing extremist Republican Party.

First, there was no reason to let the Republicans hold the country hostage. The Democrats after the 2022 midterms controlled the lame duck Congress. They could have raised the debt ceiling.  The 14th Amendment also gives the president the power to do this. Unfortunately, the president made an unnecessary decision. He achieved a consensus by forging a bipartisan agreement with his hard-right opposition, but at what cost would this be done, and to whom?

Second, although the Democrats protected most of the president’s programs from major cuts, discretionary domestic spending for the next two years will increase by just 1 percent, while military spending will increase by 3 percent. Work requirements were included for the SNAP program that could result in 750,000 people losing their food stamps.  

The bipartisan deal will permanently end the freeze on student loan repayments. The $80 billion dollar allocation to the IRS to modernize its operations and catch wealthy tax cheats was cut by over $20 billion dollars. Finally, the deal sped up the approval process and construction of the $6.6 billion dollar Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia. This project, a long-time priority for West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, has been opposed by over 750 frontline community and environmental justice organizations. 

Third, two news items that appeared when the debt ceiling crisis was resolved illustrate the moral bankruptcy of our political parties. The administration announced it was sending an additional $300 million dollars in weapons to Ukraine. Since 2001, bipartisan American wars have cost over $8 trillion, adding to our current debt. And The New York Times reported, “a wealthy nonprofit health system in the Midwest is …withholding care from patients who have unpaid medical bills.”  

This tactic goes beyond “aggressive tactics” used by many hospitals “to collect medical debt.” Medicare for All, which would prevent such predatory behavior, is strongly opposed by the GOP, Biden and the Democratic Party establishment.

Howard Elterman