{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-blumenthal-schatz-colleague-reintroduce-legislation-to-avoid-catastrophic-default", "Murphy, Blumenthal, Schatz, Colleague Reintroduce Legislation to Avoid Catastrophic Default", "2024-12-17", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", "chrismurphy", "https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2013U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) joined U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai\u2018i) and 14 of their Senate colleagues in reintroducing the End the Threat of Default Act, legislation that would permanently remove the threat of a default by repealing the national debt ceiling, an arbitrary limit restricting the amount that the United States Treasury can borrow to pay its debts. In June 2023, the president signed legislation that suspended the statutory debt ceiling until January 2, 2025.\n\n\u201cNo one should have to lose sleep wondering if their Social Security check or military pay will arrive on time just because Congress can\u2019t get its act together,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cBut every time we have to debate raising the debt ceiling, we take an unnecessary gamble with those benefits and with people\u2019s lives. It\u2019s time we put a stop to the political games and bring an end to the debt ceiling once and for all.\u201d\n\n\u201cFailure to increase an arbitrary debt ceiling would lead to a disruption of critical Social Security and Medicare payments, soaring unemployment, and overall economic catastrophe largely impacting vulnerable populations. I\u2019m proud to support the End the Threat of Default Act, which would repeal the national debt ceiling and permanently remove this threat,\u201d said Blumenthal.\n\n\u201cDefaulting on our national debt would be an economic catastrophe for everyone, especially families, veterans, and seniors. Congress has the chance to debate federal spending, and it\u2019s well before the bill comes due,\u201d said Schatz. \u201cWe need to stop playing this dangerous game with the nation\u2019s economy and get rid of the debt ceiling for good.\u201d\n\nA default would be catastrophic and would likely trigger a recession. Military pay, Social Security and Medicare payments, and Treasury bond yields would all be disrupted.\n\nIn practice, the debt limit has no impact on government spending, which is authorized and approved through the federal budget and appropriations process. Instead, the ceiling restricts the U.S. Treasury from paying for expenditures already approved by Congress therefore requiring Congress to constantly raise the ceiling before it is reached. In recent years, this has become a politicized procedure that often leads to threats of defaulting on the government\u2019s obligation to pay its bills.\n\nThe United States is one of only two democratic countries with a statutory debt ceiling, and the only one that could single-handedly cause a global recession. Since 1960, Congress has acted more than 75 times to raise, temporarily extend, or revise the definition of the debt limit. In 2011, the crisis surrounding raising the debt ceiling led credit rating agency Standard & Poor\u2019s to downgrade the U.S. government\u2019s credit rating for the first time ever. Fitch downgraded the U.S. government\u2019s credit rating following debt limit brinksmanship in 2023.\n\nU.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai\u2018i), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Angus King (I-Maine), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.), and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) also cosponsored the legislation.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T22:13:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-blumenthal-schatz-colleague-reintroduce-legislation-to-avoid-catastrophic-default"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.182415220886469, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}