Voters Want Congress to Act Quickly on the Debt Limit and Believe We Should Raise Taxes on the Wealthy, Rather Than Sacrifice Essential Government Programs
By Danielle Deiseroth and Carly Berke
As the U.S. rapidly approaches the risk of an unprecedented debt default, Republicans have doubled down on their effort to hold the debt limit hostage in exchange for cuts to critical programs. Among other provisions, Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Limit, Save, Grow Act reduces non-defense discretionary spending by 22 percent, which would lead to disastrous cuts for veterans care, public education, food assistance, and more. It also threatens funding for programs including Medicaid and SNAP, and it repeals important investments from the Inflation Reduction Act, putting thousands of new clean energy jobs in jeopardy. The threats to these and other domestic programs put communities, families, retirees, veterans, and children at risk of losing access to the benefits they rely on to make ends meet.
In a new survey, Data for Progress finds that 58 percent of voters believe Congress should act as soon as possible to avoid defaulting on our debt, rather than negotiating on future government spending and the federal budget. This includes 74 percent of Democrats, 56 percent of Independents, and 45 percent of Republicans. The urgency of the moment is critical, and voters do not want Congress to waste time negotiating over the budget. As Democrats have repeatedly argued, conversations on the budget can be saved for the annual budget process, and the priority should be to quickly and efficiently avoid defaulting on our debt. Voters believe these conversations should be left for after we’ve safely avoided an economic crash.
Moreover, Data for Progress finds 63 percent of voters would prefer Congress lower the national debt by increasing government revenue, rather than making spending cuts to critical programs. Instead of punishing those who depend on government programs, Democrats have proposed increasing government revenue by raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations. This solution is widely supported by a majority of voters, including 80 percent of Democrats, 59 percent of Independents, and 50 percent of Republicans. Only 16 percent of voters believe we should both raise taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations and cut funding for non-defense programs, while a mere 13 percent think we should cut funding for these programs without raising taxes.
With the economy on the line, Congress must act swiftly and cleanly raise the debt ceiling. Moreover, voters overwhelmingly agree that the long-term solution to lower the debt is to increase revenue by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and large corporations, not gut programs that Americans rely on.
Danielle Deiseroth (@danielledeis) is the Interim Executive Director at Data for Progress.
Carly Berke (@carlyberke) is the Political Manager at Data for Progress.