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Courage for America Ahead of White House Meeting: McCarthy Must End Extreme MAGA Demands That Will Force Default

Two Weeks From Potential MAGA Default, McCarthy Demands Cuts To Veterans’, Seniors’, Children’s Benefits While Protecting Tax Breaks For Billionaires, Corporations

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, President Biden will once again meet with congressional leaders at the White House as Speaker McCarthy continues threatening a devastating default if his extreme demands aren’t met.

In response to the meeting, Laura Packard, Courage for America spokesperson and executive director of Health Care Voter, issued the following statement:

“Every day, Speaker McCarthy and MAGA House members are pushing the country closer to the brink of a catastrophic default that would disrupt Social Security and Medicare and raise interest rates on car, mortgage and credit card payments. Their demands to gut hard-earned benefits that keep seniors, veterans, and children afloat while protecting tax loopholes benefiting billionaires and giant corporations are outrageous. Americans — especially the veterans bearing the brunt of the MAGA attacks on their live-saving health care — need McCarthy to end his harmful partisan power trip and stop blocking legislation to avoid default.”

Courage for America has been a consistent leader in the fight to hold MAGA Republicans accountable for using the default crisis as an excuse to cut Americans’ benefits. Our default crisis accountability campaign has included:

  • A TV ad in VA-02 targeting Rep. Jen Kiggans for voting to slash veterans’ benefits.
  • A press call with Rep. Gallego and Arizona veterans condemning the MAGA default bill’s cuts to veterans’ benefits
  • Digital ads in eight Republican-held districts slamming the bill for cutting law enforcement funding
  • A press call with Officer Michael Fanone and Sheriff Mark Brave condemning cuts to law enforcement funding.
  • A 20-day cross-country bus tour ahead of the release of McCarthy’s default bill, calling on House Republicans to promise their constituents they will not cut essential programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, the Affordable Care Act, and SNAP.

Facts About McCarthy’s Demands From The MAGA Default On America Act: 

  • Threatens 22% cuts to education, veterans’ health care, child care, and opioids treatment.
  • Endangers public safety, cutting funding for over 2,000 Customs and Border Protection Agents, 11,000 FBI personnel, and hundreds of local law enforcement positions.
  • Makes traveling harder and less safe, shutting down 125 air traffic control towers, increasing airport security wait times and slashing rail safety inspections.
  • Hurts our children’s education, eliminating Pell Grants for 80,000 students and causing 300,000 kids to lose access to Head Start and child care.
  • Sends good-paying American manufacturing jobs overseas by repealing clean energy investments from the Inflation Reduction Act.
  • Cuts Medicaid for 2 million people, catering to MAGA extremist Rep. Matt Gaetz’s demands to make even harsher Medicaid cuts.
  • Evicts hundreds of thousands of families, older adults, veterans and people with disabilities from Section 8 housing and cuts rental assistance.
  • Takes away food assistance from more than one million seniors and 1.2 million women, babies, and children.
  • Takes away health care access for 2 million people via community health centers, disproportionately impacting rural areas.

For questions or additional commentary, please contact [email protected].

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