Washington, DC—Today, Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell (D-AL) issued the following statement after she voted in favor of increasing the debt ceiling:

“Today I voted to increase our nation’s debt ceiling. It is important for our nation to meet its current budgetary obligations and pay our outstanding debts. America’s economy is a stabilizing force in the global economic market. This stability is essential for our continued economic recovery and our ability to borrow necessary funds at low interest rates. The longer Congress fails to act; investors here and around the world will begin to lose confidence in our ability to meet our commitments and our obligations.

If Congress continues to delay an extension of the debt limit, a broad range of government payments will have to be stopped, limited or delayed. Those payments include retirement benefits, Social Security and Medicare payments, military salaries, unemployment benefits and tax refunds. For our senior citizens who depend on Medicare for their primary healthcare provider, these types of political games being played with the debt ceiling are reprehensible and cannot continue. This delay would impose additional hardship on hard-working American families during these already challenging economic times and will raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests. The risk of allowing such a catastrophic default to occur is one that I am not willing to take.

As we continue to work to reduce our nation’s deficit, balance our budget, and address our debt ceiling, everything should and must be on the table. I remain committed to responsibly reducing the deficit, but not at the cost of inflicting further harm on our fragile economy by defaulting on our financial commitments. Additionally, we cannot balance our budget on the backs of our children, seniors, military, and families.

We are capable of addressing all of those financial matters before us and I look forward to doing so in a way that works for all Americans."

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