Pictured is U.S. President Joe Biden. The Ohio Mayors Alliance Board on Tues., Sept 21 joined President Biden in urging Congress to raise the debt limit as a federal government shutdown looms
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief
Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Ohio Mayors Alliance Board on Tuesday issued a statement urging Congress to raise the debt limit, warning that failure to pay the nation's obligations could result in economic downturn and financial ruin for hardworking families in cities across Ohio and throughout the country.
The statement from the mayors on the controversial issue comes on the heels of efforts by President Joe Biden's administration to convince Congress to work to retire the nation's debt as a still raging pandemic threatens a recession.
A Democrat who ousted former president Donald Trump in November to win the presidency and a vice president under former president Barack Obama, Biden and his administration say the U.S. debt limit is not a partisan issue and they want a bipartisan vote to raise it, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday.
The United States debt ceiling or debt limit is a legislative limit on the amount of national debt that can be incurred by the U.S. Treasury, thus limiting how much money the federal government may borrow.
"As a bipartisan coalition of mayors, we are urging Congress to set partisan politics aside to address the debt limit in a responsible, bipartisan way," the statement from the mayors that was sent out by the White House as a press release reads in relevant part. "Now is not the time to let politics or other priorities threaten this basic tenet of fiscal responsibility. As mayors from opposing parties, we don't always agree, but we do know that the United States must pay its bills."
Retiring Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, a four-term Black Democratic mayor, is not among the five Ohio mayors who issued the statement. They are, specifically, the mayors of Youngstown, Finlay, Columbus, Kettering, and Parma, the second largest city in Cuyahoga County behind Cleveland, a largely Black major American city of some 372000 people.
The Ohio mayor's alliance group bills itself as a "bipartisan group of mayors in Ohio's largest urban and suburban cities."
As a government shutdown looms, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday to prevent the shutdown, a stop gap bill that also suspends the nation's borrowing limit and a measure that has Congressional Republicans and Democrats fighting over spending limits.The measure passed 220-211 and along party lines, and it will have an uphill battle in the Republican-dominated U.S. Senate.
In an effort to keep the government open, the bill extends government funding that was set to expire at the end of the month through Dec. 3. It also includes a debt limit suspension through 2022 and would provide $28.6 billion in disaster relief funding and $6.3 billion to assist Afghanistan evacuees.
The Mayors Alliance statement calls on Congress to abandon partisan politics and uphold its duty to fulfill "this basic tenet of fiscal responsibility."
The statement follows a fact sheet from the White House last week that warned of the consequences failing to raise the debt limit could have on states and cities and the United States Conference of Mayors sounding the alarm to the severe repercussions the default would have on local economies. If Congress fails to act, the U.S. could – for the first time in history – default on its obligations, threatening a recession and drastic cuts to an array of state and local priorities.
The statement follows a fact sheet from the White House last week that warned of the consequences failing to raise the debt limit could have on states and cities and the United States Conference of Mayors sounding the alarm to the severe repercussions the default would have on local economies. If Congress fails to act, the U.S. could – for the first time in history – default on its obligations, threatening a recession and drastic cuts to an array of state and local priorities.
Federal lawmakers, led by Republicans, voted to raise the debt limit three times when Trump was president but are reluctant to do the same thing under Biden.
The Ohio mayors signing the statement demanding that Congress increase the debt limit are as follows:
Mayor Andy Ginther, Columbus (D)
Mayor Christina Muryn, Findlay (R)
Mayor Don Patterson, Kettering (R)
Mayor Tim DeGeeter, Parma (D)
Mayor Tito Brown, Youngstown (D)
Mayor Christina Muryn, Findlay (R)
Mayor Don Patterson, Kettering (R)
Mayor Tim DeGeeter, Parma (D)
Mayor Tito Brown, Youngstown (D)
Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
By Kathy Wray Coleman. Coleman is a former public school biology teacher and a Black political and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio
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