Republicans are using the debt ceiling to leverage cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
Those programs are self-funded with payroll taxes, add nothing to deficits or debt, and cutting benefits won’t reduce the deficit or avoid debt. Republicans hope gullible voters won’t notice those details.
Their opposition to those programs is ideological, not for fiscal reasons. Using the debt as an excuse to attack them is dishonest, cynical, and hypocritical, which is what the GOP is these days.
Republicans didn’t object to Trump adding $8 trillion to the debt, much of it through tax cuts that went almost entirely to wealthy people. The very first House bill they introduced this year would repeal IRS funding that would go for auditing wealthy tax cheaters. That giveaway to rich tax evaders will make deficits worse, adding to debt.
The federal deficit is falling rapidly under Biden, because of a prospering economy and less spending on pandemic relief measures. The shrinking deficit, in turn, is slowing the accumulation of more debt.
Republicans say they want to cut spending, but not their spending. They want more for defense, border protection, etc., which is okay as far as it goes, but it demonstrates that their concern about “spending” is selective and ideologically motivated. They simply don’t like Democratic spending that helps ordinary working people. And they don’t mind if federal workers aren’t paid: Workers who inspect meat, keep drinking water safe, prevent corporations from ripping you off, and so on.
Finally, they talk about “saddling our children and grandchildren with debt,” but this is a chimera. This argument assumes the federal debt has to be paid off, but it doesn’t. Its practical impact is the cost of paying interest on it. If Republicans could reduce the government’s interest expense, they’d use that to lower taxes on millionaires even more.
There’s nothing in this for Americans of average means. It’s not sincere. Republicans have always hated Social Security and Medicare, but the overwhelming majority of Americans support those programs, which ties their hands. They think they’ve found a new strategy to override the popular will. That’s what this is all about.