ICYMI: New Dem Leadership & Veterans Hold Media Availability on Debt Ceiling Negotiations and Impact Default Would Have on Service Members
Today, New Democrat Coalition (NDC) Chair Annie Kuster (NH-02), NDC Vice Chairs Brad Schneider (IL-10) and Sharice Davids (KS-03), and NDC Veteran Members Reps. Don Davis (NC-01) and Pat Ryan (NY-19) held a press conference on the current state of debt ceiling negotiations and the impact a default would have on America’s Veterans ahead of Memorial Day. With the June 1st deadline to raise the debt ceiling rapidly approaching, Members implored Speaker McCarthy to keep Congress in session until a bipartisan agreement is reached that can receive support from Members in both parties in both chambers.
You can read the transcript from today’s press conference below:
NDC Chair Kuster: Good morning, everyone. I'm Congresswoman Annie Kuster, Chair of the New Democrat Coalition, and I thank you for being with us today during this critical time in our country and for our nation's veterans. I am honored to be joined by Members of our New Dem leadership team, and our Members who have served our country in uniform and now serve in the United States Congress.
June 1st is rapidly approaching, and there is no time to waste to prevent default. But instead of staying in town to hash out a bipartisan agreement, Republicans are sending the House of Representatives home.
Let me put that another way, ahead of Memorial Day – a time to honor our veterans and those who've made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation– instead of working to support those who have served our country and their families, House Republicans are pushing our country even closer to the brink of financial catastrophe. I am the daughter of a World War II veteran, a fighter pilot who was shot down in the Battle of the Bulge, and was a prisoner of war in a German prison camp. So this is personal to me. We cannot play politics with the lives and the health and the well being of our veterans – those who serve our country and their families.
But it's clear that our Republican leadership in the House doesn't understand the impact that a default will have on our country, or on the brave men and women who serve our country in uniform. Default, would mean that 7.1 million veterans and their families could lose the benefits that they earned and deserve. It would mean that the Veterans Administration could not pay its employees, the people who provide the essential services and the care for our veterans. And it would have devastating effects on veterans’ access to vital health care, all across this country, even past this immediate crisis. That would be beyond unacceptable. We need to move quickly to save our country, our economy, but also to save Americans’ lives and livelihoods, and to keep our promises.
That's why the New Democrat Coalition are calling on Republicans to stay in town and work with us to advance a bipartisan solution that will pass both the House and the Senate. Preventing default is our number one priority. And now let me turn it over to our Vice Chair of Communications Brad Schneider.
Vice Chair Schneider: Thank you, Annie, Chairwoman Kuster. Good morning. It's good to be with you. 10 years ago…my first Memorial Day as a Representative back home in my district. I attended a number of events – one that stands with me is a ceremony honoring Gold Star families. Our military families, and in particular our Gold Star families, understand the sacrifices necessary to defend our nation to protect our liberties. And yet today as we're speaking 10 years later, we stand on the precipice of a self- inflicted economic crisis precipitated by Speaker McCarthy's loyalty to the most extreme Members of his caucus.
These far right Members are refusing to negotiate in good faith. Time and again, they have continuously moved the goalposts. But the fact is, as we stand here, we have no time to spare. We desperately need an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and take it off the table – if not permanently, at least for the next two years.
We would all love to be with our families and friends this weekend. I want nothing more than to be home to honor the memory of those who fought and died protecting our nation. But our constituents, our families, our veterans, our children are all relying on us to prevent a catastrophic default.
Importantly, it's the Americans who served this country who understand the meaning of sacrifice, who are looking to Congress to get this done – to make the sacrifice and to stay here until it is done. We owe it to them to do the nation's critical business. It's now my privilege to turn it over to Vice Chair Sharice Davids, the daughter of a veteran.
Vice Chair Davids: Good morning everyone, and thank you to Congressman Schneider. My name is Sharice Davids, and I represent the Kansas Third Congressional District. I am also in my second term as the Vice Chair for the New Dem Coalition. And you know, as we've been having these budget conversations, and debt ceiling conversations these past few months, I've absolutely been thinking a lot about my mom who's a 20 year Army veteran.
You know, the consequence, if we default on our debts would be devastating not just for folks like my mom – but for so many other veterans across our country, the millions of people who have served our country, and oftentimes have put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.
We're talking about delays in pensions, we're talking about disability compensation, we're talking about health care for our veterans. And right now, I know that folks in Kansas and across the country are already dealing with high prices. High costs of things like groceries and medications, and they shouldn't have to worry about their jobs or their health, or their health care just because of partisan political games that we're seeing too often out here in D.C.
So you know, there's really no way to sugarcoat it default is not an option, we need to make sure that we push past whatever partisan politicking that's going on right now and reach a bipartisan compromise to make sure that we're protecting our veterans’ livelihoods, and Kansans’ livelihoods and and protecting family savings.
This is, without a doubt, one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in my time here in Congress. I hope that the President and Speaker McCarthy will continue their negotiations, it sounds like we've seen some progress, some appearance of progress. I'm confident that we will come out of this thing in a good way. But when it comes to the budget, we absolutely need to make sure that we're being pragmatic, and that we're not not being extreme about this.
And I would hope and urge my colleagues to keep that in mind. We need to make sure that we have an agreement that's going to not only strengthen programs like Medicare and Social Security, but also make sure to safeguard those programs. I know Kansas seniors have been paying into these programs their entire lives. And as a member of a military family, daughter of a 20-year veteran – my grandfather was in the army for 23 years, my uncles and cousins have served – and I know that the very real consequences of a default are unacceptable.
So I am going to continue to work with anybody and everybody who's willing to do the right thing and come to the table with real pragmatic solutions to these problems. So I am going to turn it over to Congressman Don Davis from North Carolina now so that we can hear from him.
Rep. Davis: I want to thank our chair, Kuster, Vice Chair Schneider, Sharice. It's a sad moment, a sad day in our nation's history. How in the world did we get here?
Let me share with you. I am a United States Air Force Veteran. Part of what I did, as we prepare for Memorial Day, is I served as a mortuary officer, a mortuary officer. There's hundreds of people who put the last uniform on, the last ribbons on. I took that to heart. The reason I took it to heart is because of the service. It's men and women who put their lives on the line for our country, for us to be right here today. For us to be here. The last thing in the world that we should do is anything. Anything! That will take away and harm potentially a veteran and their families.
We are less than a week away from defaulting. Defaulting! We cannot afford to play games. Time's up for all of these games around here. I'm mad. Yes, I'm mad!
It's up to us to maintain the full faith and credit of the United States, it's up to us. It's up to us to weigh in to help those who have fought for our country to fight for them right now and their families. It's up to us to stay here to do whatever we need to do to get it done.
Families across eastern North Carolina are already struggling to break even these days. Right now, as we speak, rural North Carolina – to let you understand represents the best of rural America. People are struggling. Hard working people are struggling already to make ends meet.
And we're here. And we're here. Right now, at this historic moment in time, the fault in our debt is not Democratic, it's not Republican. This is an American issue right now that we're facing. We're better than this, to be at this point.
And for our veterans and their families, this very thread. There may be disagreements, but the one thing that I hope we can all agree on: we must take care of veterans.
Memorial Day is for those who gave their lives. Veterans are those that are still here, that's why we have Veterans Day. It's not good to just have a ceremony and show up and say “God Bless America” and at the same time you take away benefits. What! We're better than this as a country.
As a Representative from the great state of North Carolina, we have over 700,000 veterans living in our state. Out of that, over 95% of those veterans receive crucial health care support from our federal government. Our veterans and their families depend on us for critical care. Without an immediate action, we will put at risk veterans not only in my district, veterans not only in North Carolina, but veterans across this entire nation. As a veteran who has seen those who've paid the price. Games over. Games over. It's time for us to step up the plate and get it right. We need to get this done. Not only for our veterans, but for the American people. Thank you so much.
Rep. Ryan: Good morning, everyone. You heard some of what I'm going to say from my colleague and fellow veteran, Don Davis. It’s a pleasure to be here, but also a frustrating moment for all of us.
Particularly, Don and I were just at an event where we were cleaning the panels of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a few miles from here. And we're all going to go home now this weekend, having not accomplished a deal, having not accomplished our mission and our duty to serve the American people and avoid a catastrophic default. And many of us, I hope all of our colleagues on both sides, will be at events where we'll be honoring veterans, and particularly speaking about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and their families.
What we have to focus on is the fact that those same families who've already lost a loved one or more, who will be mourning on this Memorial Day, are going to be even further devastated by these cruel cuts proposed by the extreme far right around these negotiations. Not only will they be mourning the loss of loved ones, they'll be worried “am I going to get the veterans care and services and support that I need?” Many of them rely on SNAP and food stamps to put food on the table. 1.3 million veterans count on SNAP. On the chopping block, mental health care on the chopping block. Longer wait times and appointments, less appointments for veterans across the country.
So I'm excited to go home this weekend and spend time with veterans, active duty military, and military families. But I'm really disappointed in my colleagues across the aisle, that not only did they propose these devastating cuts, but now the quote unquote leadership is going to say go home, look these folks in the eye, and tell them that we're honoring their sacrifice without having actually accomplished a deal.
So we have to get this deal done. We are ready to be here. I will stay as long as we need. I know my colleagues will stay as long as we need to accomplish our mission and our duty to the American people. Thank you very much for having me.
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