FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 30, 2023
Contact: Emily Phelps | press@indivisible.org
Washington, DC — Today, Indivisible’s Chief Strategy Officer Mary Small released the following statement:
“All Democrats have stood ready all year to avoid default without drama through a clean bill; this last-minute scramble is the Republicans' fault.
“If Kevin McCarthy wants this bill to pass, it’s on him to prove that he has the promised Republican votes. If progressive votes are needed to pass this bill, then progressives will be ready to quickly land legislative improvements to earn them. That’s how governing works.
“Kevin McCarthy took the American economy, and working people’s economic security, hostage. That’s not a secret and it’s not spin - he paraded around the Capitol relishing that he was the villain in a hostage negotiation. Now if he wants to get his ransom, he ought to put up the votes from his own caucus.
“Progressives and the grassroots helped take some terrible cuts–including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid–off the table over the course of this fight. And President Biden rejected many others. Yet, progressive votes weren’t courted for the current deal, and it shows. Progressives hold space for the Democratic party’s core values, even when the pressure is high, to protect the things that matter to all of us. We oppose budget caps for programs that support our families and communities - while shoveling more money into a bloated Defense budget. We oppose so-called ‘work requirements' for programs like SNAP that are nothing more than hurdles intentionally designed to strip benefits from the most vulnerable. We oppose giving special treatment to the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a fossil fuel project that has proven incapable of clearing foundational environmental tests. We oppose stripping funding from the IRS to make it easier for big corporations and the ultra wealthy to cheat on their taxes.
“This is Kevin McCarthy’s wish list. McCarthy and his caucus will be judged based on these priorities. This is their big power play, and they chose to wield it to try and take our economy backwards and score political points. The GOP shares a vision for a scarcity economy that pits working people against each other and asks them to continuously foot the bill for endless tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. Progressives are right to opt out of carrying water for this deal, and instead putting it at McCarthy’s feet where it belongs.”
# # #
About the Indivisible Project
The Indivisible Project is a registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit. Our mission is to cultivate and lift up a grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies. Across the nation, thousands of local groups are using the Indivisible Guide to hold their members of Congress accountable. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.