By refusing to raise the debt limit, Republicans are gambling with Americans' Social Security

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

benefits

If Congress does not act to raise the debt limit soon, the country will be plunged into a financial crisis - and the government will have massive difficulty paying its bills, including sending Social Security checks to some 65 million beneficiaries. This would be an unconscionable outcome - not only for the country, but for the retirees, people with disabilities, and their families, who depend on Social Security to make ends meet each and every month. I have just sent a letter to all 100 senators imploring them to avoid this catastrophe.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that the government will exhaust its cash reserves on Oct. 18 if Congress fails to act. Though Social Security is a self-funded program with $2.9 trillion in federally-held securities, the Treasury department must have cash on hand to pay benefits when they are due. This month, Treasury is required by law to make some $90 billion in payments to retirees, disabled workers, widows, widowers, children, and spouses who receive Social Security benefits. The Treasury may not have enough incoming revenue to make those payments without the authority to cash in these securities.

A default is entirely avoidable, but Republicans refuse to exercise their fiduciary duty and join Democrats in raising the debt ceiling. It is a routine matter of congressional business. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who has voted 32 times to raise the debt limit (including three times during the Trump administration), says his members will stand stubbornly against it this time.

This makes no sense, except as a shameless political ploy. Raising the debt limit would allow the federal government to meet its financial obligations for funds it has already expended - including the 2017 GOP tax cuts and COVID relief under President Trump.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/by-refusing-to-raise-the-debt-limit-republicans-are-gambling-with-americans-social-security-benefits/ar-AAOZZwm

Those seniors need to get off their lazy dead asses and get jobs as Walmart greeters or working the drive through at McDonalds - Moscow Mitch.

[calimary]

1. What do they care? They want to do away with Social Security anyway.

[chillfactor]

2. I live on social security

no I SURVIVE on social security.....I don't really "live" on social security. What in the hell do people like me do without survival pay?

[bahboo]

3. this should end them as a viable political party....

but it won't....

[Igel]

4. It puts to rest the "cashing in the trust fund won't raise the debt" canard.

The trust fund's held as special-purpose treasury bills, only legally held by the US Treasury.

Cash those and it gets converted to publicly held debt, meaning it actually does increase the national debt on the books. (Which should sort of worry those who don't like increased debt, because it means the trust fund debt was, in a meaningful sense, not on the usual "books" consulted.)