Speeches and Floor Statements

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), Senior House Democrat on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee and member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, delivered remarks tonight during floor debate on H.R. 3746, bipartisan legislation to avert a debt default. Beyer remarks as prepared follow below (remarks delivered here).

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this imperfect bill.

Given the chance, I would vote for a clean debt limit increase, just as I did under the previous president without demanding concessions, and just as I urged my colleagues to do last year.

I believe it is profoundly wrong that Republicans chose to hold our economy hostage, using the American people as leverage to demand concessions.

Their ransom is odious- including deficit-increasing cuts to the IRS to protect wealthy tax cheats while they increase red tape that will prevent some of our most vulnerable from buying food.

It also includes an extraneous provision to approve the Mountain Valley Pipeline which my Virginia constituents strongly oppose.

But failure to pass this bill and raise the debt limit would devastate our country, cause a global recession, and cost millions of American jobs.

We must not allow that to happen.

President Biden and his negotiating team worked skillfully and successfully to prevent the vast majority of the draconian cuts sought by MAGA Republicans while shielding our signature legislative achievements from repeal.

This could have been so much worse.

This is not a bill I would have written, but it will avert catastrophe and it is our clear duty to pass it.