Remembering Guinta’s complicity in debt ceiling crisis

One year ago, congressional Republicans threatened to force the government into default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. In a letter to the editor, Herb Moyer reminds us of Congressman Frank Guinta’s complicity in this “dangerous partisan stunt” — and the lasting damage it did to the nation’s economy.

Congressman Guinta was a fan of letting us default on our bills, telling us that we could just choose which bills to pay and default on the rest; no harm done.

His recklessness was astounding. Last July, the US Chamber of Commerce warned House Republican leadership not to play brinksmanship games with raising the debt limit, saying, “Failure to increase the statutory debt limit in a timely fashion could have significant and long-lasting negative impact on the U.S. economy.” They were right.

In a crisis engineered by House Republicans, Speaker Boehner refused to increase the debt limit, and consumer confidence plummeted faster than during the economic crisis in late 2008. Businesses lost confidence and dramatically reduced hiring for the next four months. Our credit rating was downgraded, the stock market crashed, and it took a full year for confidence to recover.