Portland Courant

WASHINGTON, D.C.— On May 31, 2023, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee and Budget Committee, released the following statement on his vote in favor of the bipartisan debt limit negotiation:  

“This is not the bill I would have written, but the choice isn’t between this and something else. The choice is between passing this legislation or allowing extremist Republicans to crash the global economy. This legislation gives us two years of certainty on the debt ceiling so we are not back in this hostage situation next year.

“We have also secured time to prove the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act in increasing IRS enforcement, lowering healthcare costs, and investing in a clean energy economy. These two years will be a powerful demonstration of the wisdom in the approach we took.

“Congress may have averted catastrophe, but it doesn’t mean that there was not a real cost to America’s stature. We should use the clear words in the 14th amendment, which states the validity of our public debt “shall not be questioned,” to abolish the debt ceiling and end this cycle. America, and the world, deserves better.” 

Original source can be found here.