On the eve of a possible shutdown of the U.S. government, religious leaders denounced the political brinkmanship prevailing in Congress today.
“Shutting down the government will do real damage,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, speaking at a press conference today. “Risking our nation’s creditworthiness will do even more damage. Most clearly, the disruption and uncertainty will put the brakes on our economy.”
Unless our nation’s leaders come to an agreement on appropriations for the coming months, the U.S. government will close on Oct. 1, the start of the 2014 fiscal year. If no agreement is reached by Oct. 17 on increasing the debt limit, the country’s creditworthiness will be compromised.
Read it all and follow the link at the bottom to the letter to see the actual signatories.
We won’t default on interest payments. That is either a common misunderstanding or a common polemic misstatement. Take your pick.
It would be nice if we could think these signatories would also denounce the brinksmanship in the Senate leadership and the White House. But they won’t.
Let’s be realistic. If the ceiling is not raised, the government may not default on the interest payments, because of the horrible consequences, but it will have to default on something. Some combination of spending authorized by Congress and government benefit checks will have to go unpaid.