The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) is pushing back against Republicans’ most recent memo to GOP candidates telling them not to worry about the dire default-or-else messaging coming from President Obama and the Democrats.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Debt Negotiations At The White House]
To Murray, GOP disregard for the government’s inability to pay seniors’ their Social Security checks is what’s really scary about the Republicans’ most recent political positioning in the debt talks.
“The possibility that seniors could be denied Social Security benefits is frightening,” Murray said. “Rather than accuse the President of scare tactics, my Republican colleagues should tell the extreme voices in their own party that it is time to act responsibly.”
The most recent GOP talking points, Democrats argue, shows just how politically focused Republicans are being when it comes to pushing their my-way-or-the-highway agenda of spending cuts and no tax increases in the debt ceiling talks, while Democrats are trying to forge a balanced deal that cuts spending while protecting seniors, the middle class and the poor.
“Senate Republicans have put us in this position by walking away from every attempt at finding a long-term solution to our national debt,” Murray continued. “They continue to deny that their irresponsible actions will have real consequences for the American people. This is not about bumper sticker politics. This is about real people, who could be hurt if Republicans fail to act reasonably and responsibly.”
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) informed GOP candidates in the memo sent Tuesday night to steel themselves against “disingenuous attacks” from Democrats.
“Washington Democrats are not going to hold back on their misleading tactics – and it’s becoming clear that they are willing to use the full resources of the executive branch to help them execute it,” Cornyn wrote.
Recalling the warnings the Obama administration sent to the military and “non-essential” government employees earlier this year when talks broke down over imposing new cuts to this year’s spending bills, Cornyn said the Obama administration could use the resources of the executive branch to send letters to Social Security and Medicare recipients, federal employees and the military in the days ahead warning them they might not receive their salaries or benefits.
‘All of this would be done under the guise of official government business — and a cost of tens of thousands of tax dollars — but with a very clear political purpose,” he said. “… Billions of dollars in revenue still comes into the government’s coffers each day – a fact even acknowledged by Treasure Secretary Geithner. The Obama Administration would have more than needed to keep sending checks to Social Security recipients, or Medicare patients, or to our soldiers serving abroad. But as the President indicated last night, they may choose not to, in order to attempt to exert political pressure on Republicans to agree to Democrats’ tax hikes.”
