Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is calling on Democrats to resist the Republican demand for negotiations over raising the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, saying it’s just another GOP attempt to slash federal spending while protecting the rich from tax increases.
In an op-ed published by The Boston Globe this weekend, Warren accused Republicans of “running a con game” when it comes to the national debt, which she argues has been driven higher not by excessive spending but by repeated tax cuts that have overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest Americans.
“For generations, Republicans in Washington have relentlessly driven up the national debt by shoveling tax breaks to the rich,” Warren wrote. “The cumulative impact has been staggering. In the 1950s, corporations paid 6 percent of the cost of running our country; today, that number has fallen to 1 percent. The 2017 Republican tax cuts were the latest blow — a $1.9 trillion giveaway to wealthy individuals and multinational corporations.”
Warren questioned Republicans’ professed concern about the national debt, pointing out that the first bill the GOP House passed would increase deficits by reducing funding for the IRS, even as GOP lawmakers talk about new tax cuts. “It seems that more debt is fine with Republicans in Congress, so long as it profits the wealthy and well-connected,” Warren wrote.
Republicans have used the debt ceiling playbook before, Warren said, creating a showdown in 2011 that had…
