Statewide Iowa — Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says Democrats who have the working majorities in congress are on their own when it comes to raising the federal government’s borrowing limit.
Grassley and all the other Republicans in the U.S. Senate Monday night blocked a vote on a bill to raise the debt limit.
The legislation that failed in the Senate Monday night included money to keep the federal government operating through early December. The new federal fiscal year starts October 1st and Grassley says Republicans would be willing to vote for basic government funding, without a hike in the debt limit. Grassley says to avoid government shutdowns this year and in the future, he’d support legislation that creates a permanent work around.
Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids one of the Democrats running for the chance to challenge Grassley’s bid for reelection in 2022 says Grassley’s opposition to raising the debt ceiling is reckless. Finkenauer says Grassley is putting the GOP’s political agenda first rather than the livelihoods of Iowans who depend on things like Social Security to get by. The U.S. Treasury secretary has said the government could run out of money for Social Security benefits and military pay sometime in October if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
