NJ Congress Members Hold Noses, Vote For Debt Ceiling Compromise

NEW JERSEY — The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate gave a green light to a bill that will raise the nation’s debt ceiling and avoid a financial meltdown this week. The bill will also make some federal spending cuts, restart federal student loan payments, and expand work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

The compromise between Republicans and Democrats got approval from all but one New Jersey Congress member – Rep. Jeff Van Drew – but saw some reluctant votes from his peers.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 saw “yes” votes on Wednesday from Josh Gottheimer, Thomas Kean Jr., Andy Kim, Robert Menendez, Donald Norcross, Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell Jr., Donald Payne Jr., Mikie Sherrill, Chris Smith and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

Van Drew tweeted a message about the bill before he cast his lone “no” vote:

“The Limit, Save, Grow Act – passed by House Republicans – responsibly raised the debt limit while reining in spending. The Fiscal Responsibility Act simply does not live up to the expectations we set, and I cannot in good conscience vote for it.”

That proposal, which died in the Senate, saw stern opposition from some congressional Democrats, including Sen. Robert Menendez – one of New Jersey’s two U.S. senators – and Rep. Sherrill, who blamed Republicans for “putting partisan politics and a right-wing agenda above our national security.” Read More: Sherrill Blasts GOP After Debt Battle Derails Military Spending Bill

Menendez and New Jersey’s other U.S. senator, Cory Booker, each voted in favor of the Fiscal Responsibility Act on Thursday. But each said they have their reservations about the negotiations that led up to the vote – as well as the bill itself.

According to Menendez, it was the “fiscally responsible thing” to do.

“However, the process that resulted in this deal and the legislation itself were far from perfect,” the senator added. “Republicans used American families and businesses as leverage, threatening to send shockwaves through the economy, all to force through policies that will hurt communities across our nation.”

Menendez said the bill includes several harmful provisions that will strip access to food and SNAP benefits, and added that it will “tie the administration’s hand” by forcing the federal government to restart the collection of student loan payments.

“It also includes policies – which I joined my Democratic colleagues in attempting to defeat – that will undermine our critical environmental laws and limit the ability of local communities to have a say in federal projects in their backyard,” Menendez argued.

Booker said that defaulting on the federal debt is not an option: it would cause “unprecedented economic calamity” for Americans and the entire world.

“Yet, Congressional Republicans took our economy hostage in pursuit of their deeply damaging agenda, despite a long history of Democrats and Republicans coming together to pass clean bills to raise the debt ceiling, including three times under President [Donald] Trump,” Booker said.

He added:

“I have deep concerns about the bill’s cuts to federal social safety net programs and rolling back of environmental protection laws, as it is clear that this will harm the most vulnerable people and families across our nation. However, this bill was our best, and perhaps only, opportunity to avoid a first-ever federal default that would have imperiled the global economy and resulted in even more disastrous consequences for Americans.”

“The hostage-taking with our economy must stop,” Booker said. “Congress must work toward a budget-making process that ends this kind of brinksmanship and fosters a sound process for our national well-being.”

Several House members from New Jersey also said they held their noses while pulling the trigger on the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Rep. Watson Coleman said that voting to raise the debt ceiling should be a bipartisan measure to pay the debts already accrued by the federal government.

“In recent years Republicans have insisted on a dine-and-dash policy in which they run up debts on the things they want, like tax cuts and other giveaways for the ultra-rich, and then refuse to pay the bill, demanding we cut essential services designed to help people,” she said.

“I voted in favor of the bipartisan budget plan legislation as the responsible course of action to avoid the economic devastation that would follow should we allow the country to default,” Watson Coleman said.

The congresswoman added that after President Joe Biden signs the bill – which he is expected to do immediately – the nation need to have a conversation about eliminating the debt ceiling once and for all.

“I've called on all my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, to consider joining me in supporting Representative Bill Foster's End the Threat of Default Act to repeal the debt ceiling,” Watson Coleman said.

“It is preposterous to continue to be beholden to a 106-year-old war funding mechanism conceived of at a time in which Members of Congress could not easily be recalled to Washington in the event of an emergency,” she said, referring to a temporary measure rolled out during World War I.

Rep. Pascrell said the entire negotiation was based on a “crisis” manufactured by Republican lawmakers.

“The leadership of the Republican Party top to bottom represents a continuing and growing threat to democracy and our economy,” Pascrell commented.

WHAT IS THE ‘DEBT CEILING?’

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the federal debt limit is the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments.

The debt limit does not authorize new spending commitments. It simply allows the government to finance existing legal obligations that Congresses and presidents of both parties have made in the past.

“Failing to increase the debt limit would have catastrophic economic consequences,” the Treasury Department says. “It would cause the government to default on its legal obligations – an unprecedented event in American history. That would precipitate another financial crisis and threaten the jobs and savings of everyday Americans – putting the United States right back in a deep economic hole, just as the country is recovering from the recent recession.”

Since 1960, Congress has acted 78 separate times to permanently raise, temporarily extend, or revise the definition of the debt limit – 49 times under Republican presidents and 29 times under Democratic presidents.

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