ICYMI: Army Veteran Blasts Republicans Over Debt Ceiling Political Games in Letter to the Editor

‘As debate continues in Congress, we must remember that Republicans are the ones who are dangling the American people off a cliff to try and score political points, and we must hold them accountable.’

Yesterday, retired Army Colonel Floyd Griffin penned a letter to the editor in The Union Recorder lambasting Senate Republicans for putting Georgians’ livelihoods at risk by refusing to raise the debt ceiling and playing Washington political games with America’s economy. If Mitch McConnell and the Senate GOP continue their partisan obstruction, Republicans could cost America’s economy six million jobs, cause a nearly four percent decline in economic activity, and send the unemployment rate surging to roughly nine percent from around five percent.

Read Colonel Griffin’s letter to the editor in the Union Recorder here:

• Republican lawmakers in Washington are putting their hypocrisy on full display and playing politics with America’s future by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. By turning a longstanding bipartisan effort into a partisan charade, the GOP is putting Georgians’ livelihoods on the line. It was a callous political maneuver that could harm millions of military families, social security recipients, and veterans like me.
• About 10,000 veterans in Georgia receive military pensions, and over 186,000 receive disability payments. As a retired Army Colonel, I know how essential these benefits are for those who have sacrificed for our country. But if the Senate GOP ultimately puts their partisanship ahead of the people of Georgia, veterans could see compensation or pension payments lapse — putting their financial well-being at risk.
• The potential damage that a GOP government shutdown could cause goes beyond veteran and military families as well. People receiving social security, food assistance, depending on the child tax credit, and non-military federal employees will bear the consequences if Republicans don’t put aside their political games to raise the debt ceiling. 
• Georgia is home to about 69,000 active duty military members, the fifth-most in the country. But if Republicans shut down the government, they’ll cut our troops off from pay until the debt ceiling is raised. In order to make governing as hard as possible for Democrats, Republicans will make Georgians carry the burden of their dangerous political theater.
• As debate continues in Congress, we must remember that Republicans are the ones who are dangling the American people off a cliff to try and score political points, and we must hold them accountable. While Republicans jeopardize our economic recovery, it is more important than ever that Congress pass President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda and bipartisan infrastructure deal to invest in America’s future and continue to strengthen our economy. 

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