Dear Friends:

        Monday night, the President had it exactly right: We need a balanced approach to raise the debt limit and to grapple with our nation’s deficit and long-term debt situation. 
As the President stated, two paths lie before the nation. 

        One path would ask for shared sacrifice among all Americans, the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy, the old and the young, the individual and the corporation.  The other course of action would demand that sacrifice come only from the most vulnerable in our society, seniors and students, struggling low-income and middle-class families.  That second path puts Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security on the chopping block while asking for nothing, not one tax loop-hole, not one special-interest tax advantage, from billionaires or corporations.

        With just a week left until a possible default by the federal government, the consequences of America not paying its bills are becoming all too real.  Financial markets are tepid and the federal government risks a downgrade of its AAA bond rating.  Even more troubling is the impact that a default would have on average American families.  Mortgage-interest rates and credit-card interest rates would rise, consumer prices would go up and retirement savings would be jeopardized by declining markets, costing hard-working families billions of dollars when they can least afford it. 

        Just a decade ago, during the Clinton Administration, we had both a balanced budget and a strong economy.   Back then, we achieved that outcome with a balance of spending reductions and increased federal revenue.  Now, nothing prevents us from taking that same reasonable path except those individuals in Congress who would rather hold the country hostage in order to further their reactionary ideological agenda to turn back the clock of history.  Members of Congress must come together—yes, compromise—with the President to pay our bills, reduce our deficit and debt, and, most of all, preserve the programs that protect low and-middle-income families and seniors.  Both parties did it together under Presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush.  We must do it together again.  Now.

Sincerely,

Gary L. Ackerman