Rep. McDermott slams GOP for using debt ceiling to push 'social Darwinism'

At a Ways and Means Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) blasted Republicans for refusing to raising the federal debt ceiling unless Democrats agreed to budget cuts.

"I have to tell you, listening to this hearing is like we are living in Alice in Wonderland," McDermott said. "Here we are hearing from witnesses telling us how to use default creatively or use it to get some leverage or something -- and the simple talking about it here is destructive."

"The whole world is watching this hearing. It is the first hearing on this issue. The whole point of a society is to create and run a government to make order for people. People don't like chaos and this hearing is about how to create chaos to get what you can't get politically with votes."

McDermott added that Republicans had created a manufactured crisis by attempting to use the federal debt ceiling as political leverage.

He said Republicans had no problem running up the deficit by waging wars or providing tax cuts for the wealthy, and were only making a fuss about spending now because of their opposition to safety net programs like Medicare.

"They want everyone who is lucky and doing well to just do well," McDermott continued. "And if you aren't doing well, well you've got to deal with it, it's your problem. It is social Darwinism. It is survival of the fittest put into public policy."

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube by WaysAndMeansDems, below: