Pelosi spokesman: GOP lawmakers ‘threatening a global economic catastrophe’

Republicans have made clear they intend to cut Medicare and Social Security if they regain congressional majorities, and they're willing to risk default on the nation's debt as leverage.

The Republican Study Committee released a budget plan earlier this year proposing gradual raises to eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare and making Donald Trump-era individual tax cuts permanent, and GOP lawmakers are threatening to hold the U.S. economy hostage to push those changes through a tight Senate and a Democratic president, reported Politico.

“Spare me if you’re a Republican who puts on your frigging campaign website, ‘Trust me, I will vote for a balanced budget amendment, and I believe we should balance the budget like every family in America.’ No shit,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). “You have two simple leverage points: when government funding comes up and when the debt ceiling is debated, and the only question that matters is, will leadership use that leverage?”

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Congress has never failed to raise the limit on the nation's ability to borrow money, but Republicans have used the debt ceiling in the past to get spending caps from Barack Obama and threatened to do it last year, and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and others have indicated they will push the economy to the brink to get cuts to the social safety net and funding for a border wall.

“When 75 percent of House Republicans have endorsed severe Medicare and Social Security cuts, and top Republicans are openly discussing threatening a global economic catastrophe in order to force them into law, it’s clear this would be a very real danger under a GOP House,” said Henry Connelly, a spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “This isn’t loose Republican talk, this is an increasingly specific and serious plan with extremely high stakes for the economy and seniors’ financial security.”