Democrat Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen called Republicans “terrorists” over the party’s commitment to fiscal responsibility.
During an interview on liberal news network CNN, Cohen shared his thoughts about the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations, in which the congressman attacked Republican lawmakers and called them “legislative terrorists.”
“So it’s gonna be difficult for [President Joe Biden] to negotiate with somebody with those types of legislative terrorists on their team,” the Tennessee Democrat said, adding that the “14th Amendment is an ace in the hole.”
Cohen and other Democratic lawmakers seem to have chosen to engage in vilification tactics rather than reasoned discussion about the future of our nation’s economic health.
This comes after administration officials revealed earlier this month that Biden has no plans to negotiate with Republicans over the debt limit. The approach reflects the White House’s belief that they cannot create a model for the opposition to use the debt ceiling as a political negotiating chip.
It also shows continued confidence in the fact that Biden still has the upper hand in a debt ceiling staredown and that a crisis point was only a matter of when, not if, the two sides would come to blows.
For months, Biden has vowed not to engage in debt ceiling negotiations, calling Republicans’ demands for concessions “hostage taking” that might damage the country’s global reputation and economic stability.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, warned of an economic catastrophe if the Biden administration fails to raise the government’s borrowing authority in the coming weeks.
“Time is running out,” Yellen said during a meeting of the Independent Community Bankers of America in Washington last week. “The U.S. economy hangs in the balance. The livelihoods of millions of Americans do too. There is no time to waste.”
Yellen also claimed that millions of Americans who depend on benefits from the federal government—including 66 million Social Security recipients and millions of veterans and military families—would likely go unpaid.
The issue is also affecting Biden’s chances for a second term, as the latest poll shows him trailing former President Donald Trump by seven points in a head-to-head matchup.
