GOP’s debt ceiling demands are 'economic terrorism': Ex-Pelosi adviser

On Wednesday, following new reporting that Republicans led by Senate campaign chair arm Rick Scott (R-FL) are demanding massive spending cuts in return for raising the debt ceiling, Jesse Lee, a former adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), condemned the demands as a form of "terrorism."

"This is actual economic terrorism, and any corporation that donates to the @NRSC is now not only supporting insurrectionists, but insurrectionists pledging to put a gun to the head of the economy every chance they get," wrote Lee on Twitter.

The debt ceiling is an arbitrary measure that does not actually prevent the U.S. from spending, but rather from paying debts on money that has already been spent, and it must be routinely raised in response to the national debt. Experts have warned that a default on U.S. Treasury bonds would cause widespread shocks throughout the global economic system — and that it might not even be constitutional.