UPDATE: The bill has just passed on the floor of the House. The D’s were withholding their yes votes until they got all the R’s on record.

The following Editors and Contributing Editors of Green Mountain Daily, after consideration and discussion, do not and cannot in good conscience support the Reid/McConnell U.S. Default bill. The legislation is not, as its sponsors claim, a “compromise” solution to a default crisis manufactured by GOP maneuvering. The bill, in its current form, is not a “compromise” under any reasonable use of that word. The bill accedes to radically extreme Republican Tea Party demands and does so at the expense of government responsibility. The bill does not solve the Republican manufactured default crises. Instead it rewards the Republican Tea Party for their reactionary intransigence, and their unwillingness to take their congressional responsibilities seriously.

At the same time, it is clear that default on our debts is not an option. Executive Branch options available to President Obama to avoid default without congressional approval, while distasteful and unprecedented, would all be preferable to the option currently under consideration. Unilateral action under the 14th amendment would be far preferable to the wholesale dismantling of critical discretionary programs and the crippling of medicare through unsustainable cuts to providers, that would ultimately be triggered under the Reid/McConnell bill. In addition, the destructive consequences of draconian cuts to other critical programs and jobs as our economic recovery is showing signs of failing would be intolerable.

We therefore urge Senator Leahy and Representative Welch to follow the example of Senator Sanders and vote against the McConnell/Reid bill which would be harmful in the extreme to Vermonters, as well as middle and working class families across the country.

BP

Jack McCullough

Eddie “kestrel9000” Garcia

Maggie Gundersen

odum

Sue Prent

Caoimhin Laochdha

greenvtster

JDRyan

mataliandy

NanuqFC