With a potentially catastrophic federal default looming on Oct. 18, Rep. Darrell Issa was the sole member of the San Diego congressional delegation to vote against raising the debt limit.
In a statement after the vote on Wednesday, Issa did not address the possibility of default, but said he “cast a vote for fiscal common sense in an age of unprecedented irresponsible overspending.”
The vote was 219-212 along party lines, with Issa joining his Republican colleagues. Reps. Sara Jacobs, Mike Levin, Scott Peters and Juan Vargas, who are all Democrats, voted to increase the debt ceiling.
“We need to come together to fulfill Congress’ most basic duties: fund the government and pay off our bills,” said Peters after his vote.
Raising the ceiling doesn’t increase U.S. debt, but authorizes paying for debts already incurred, including the deficits caused by President Trump’s business tax cuts in 2017.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that without an increase in the debt ceiling, the government will have insufficient funds to meet all of its obligations, ranging from Social Security payments to the principal and interest due on Treasury bonds.
“We’re likely to end up with a financial crisis, certainly a recession,” Yellen told a House committee on Thursday. It would also have “longer-lasting consequences of higher interest rates for everyone who borrows.”
In the Senate, Republicans are using the filibuster — the requirement for 60 votes — to prevent an increase in the debt ceiling.
The ratings agency Standard & Poors issued a bulleting to investors on Thursday saying failure to raise the debt ceiling would result in “severe and extraordinary consequences” on financial markets.
“It would be unprecedented in modern times for an advanced G-7 country, like the U.S., to default on its sovereign debt,” S&P said.
