MAGA Default Crisis: Call your US Rep today

When is a phone call more than a phone call? When it is tallied by your US House Rep as evidence for support!

You may have heard cable news talking about the MAGA Default Crisis. You may think, as I often do, thank goodness I live in a Blue State and have Blue US Reps! But here’s the thing, the other side is noisy and abusive. They call all the time. Those calls are tallied.

Notice I called it the MAGA Default Crisis instead of the debt crisis like the media? That’s because the debt isn’t the crisis; the crisis is the threat of MAGA to default on debt already incurred.

What we need to do is call to say thank you and STAY STRONG. As Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, says, we need to support them and STIFFEN THEIR SPINES. Leave a message, including your first and last name and the town that you live in. The Indivisible Toolkit below will give you ideas for your message.

Fun fact: The growth in the annual deficit under Trump ranks as the third-biggest increase, relative to the size of the economy, of any U.S. presidential administration, according to a calculation by a leading Washington budget maven, Eugene Steuerle, co-founder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. And unlike George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln, who oversaw the larger relative increases in deficits, Trump did not launch two foreign conflicts or have to pay for a civil war.

Find your Rep

I’ve called, now what? Here are some ideas:

Call and leave a message for your US Rep
Send an email to your US Rep
Send a snail-mail letter to your US Rep
Talk to your friends and family! They trust your opinion. Talk about the MAGA debt crisis as it relates to your own personal story.
Take it to social media. Again, share a personal worry or story.
Stay tuned for actions happening May 19-26. We’ll update TurnPurple2Blue as we find more actions.

Indivisible National’s Toolkit for the MAGA Default Crisis.

If you have a Blue MoC

President Biden has been standing strong, refusing to engage with bad-faith MAGA extremists. He’s also made it clear that Democrats will fight against any cuts to Social Security and Medicare. But Republicans will try and peel off some Democrats, duping them in with promises of “bipartisanship” or “commissions” to find a solution. We’ve seen this before; we know their real agenda and that Republican MoCs aren’t to be trusted.

We’ve heard from some of our closest allies in Congress that a massive grassroots movement can create exactly the type of urgency needed. While many Dem MoCs have been supporting President Biden’s position, they are sure to face significant pressure to cave to the MAGA demands – so we need to be there to have their backs and prove fighting for our communities is popular.

And if there are Democrats who start to waver and signal their openness to negotiations with the hostage-takers, we have to forcefully remind them who they’re supposed to be representing – us. So no matter who your Dem MoC is, you have a role to play by either celebrating them for protecting us from the MAGA plot, or by stiffening the spines of any MoCs who think surrendering to extreme demands is the easy way out.

Democratic MoCs

Democrats must protect families and communities from the MAGA plan to cause a default crisis and stick regular people with the bill. While Kevin McCarthy might have to show off for the Freedom Caucus, there’s no need for Democrats to cave into these reckless tactics.
Under no circumstances should Democrats agree to any demands to cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Millions of families rely on these programs to make ends meet and care for themselves and their loved ones. Cutting these programs is wildly unpopular and would devastate the financial security of millions of people.
Democrats passed legislation to lower costs for families, and they can’t let MAGA extremists wipe out that progress. Republicans want to repeal laws enacted by Democrats that have made prescription drugs more affordable, created clean energy jobs, and asked the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes. Democrats can’t let us go backward.
Democrats need to stand with President Biden and refuse to let Republicans get out of paying their bills. The GOP offer to “negotiate” is simply a trap – we know their agenda is devastating cuts to critical programs our communities and families rely on.

The Consequences of a MAGA Default Crisis

If Republicans get their way and force a default crisis, they’ll do so knowing their wealthy campaign donors will be just fine, while the rest of us pay the price. Here’s just a sampling of the harm this would cause:

Unemployment could spike to 7%, throwing millions out of work and reversing our historic job growth since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The typical worker close to retirement could lose $20,000 from their 401(k) savings.
Medicare payments will be delayed for seniors who rely on it for life-sustaining health care.
Prices for everything from groceries to gas would rise.
Credit card rates would rise, sending millions of families into financial stress.
Mortgages could become more than $100,000 more expensive over their 30-year term.
Seniors could lose social security checks.

Glossary

DEBT CEILING

An arbitrary cap set by Congress that determines how much money the Federal Government can borrow to pay for the programs and projects that Congress approves.
A routine vote of Congress typically raises the limit, but the GOP has increasingly used brinkmanship and hostage-taking to attempt to extract concessions.

DEFAULT

Unprecedented economic chaos caused by the GOP refusing to pay their debts.
Disruptions, delays, and cuts to programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance, education, clean water, and more.