House Liberals Uniformly Reject Debt Deal

By Candese Charles

Members of the House Progressive Caucus expressed visible frustration on Monday afternoon over a deal agreed to by President Obama and congressional leaders to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

Caucus Co-Chairs Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said bluntly that they could not support the bill. “We and many of our members will be voting no,” Ellison announced.

Grijalva lamented the fact that taxes were overlooked as part of the final solution. Progressive lawmakers have made no secret about their desire to see the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy Americans, as well as the closing of tax breaks for the oil industry. “Deficit-reduction measures included in this deal will further harm our economy and hurt working Americans,” Grijalva said, alluding to domestic spending cuts that could total more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

Grijalva and Ellison said that in the event that the House fails to pass the measure, they would support the right of President Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment of the Constitution to single-handedly increase the debt limit, a move the White House has repeatedly ruled out.