Congressman Landsman Explains Why He Voted in Support of Negotiated Deal to Avoid Default

CINCINNATI, OH -- “President Biden and Speaker McCarthy negotiated a bill to avoid default and protect Social Security and Medicare. I’m committed to being a new type of national leader: transparent, accountable, bipartisan, and reliable. To this end, I wanted to share my takeaways from this vote - and an explanation for why I voted yes.

“Washington cannot normalize this. Brinkmanship on the question of defaulting in America is a terrible process. Folks were calling us panicked about their Social Security checks, worried they might lose their healthcare, or whether or not the economy would crash. The jobs, savings, and lives of Americans should not be bargaining chips. It’s not fair to folks. These are real people who deserve stability and genuine leadership. People in Washington cannot continue to normalize this, and we should be done with debt ceiling brinkmanship.

“The bill represents the realities of a divided Congress. The reality is that President Biden and congressional leaders would always have to negotiate on a budget. I had urged folks to do this months ago. Even though a majority of Americans want Congress to balance the budget by fixing the tax code, the House Majority has said that is off the table. So, we needed to pass a budget that wouldn’t undermine our economic growth or hurt Americans already struggling. This bipartisan budget would protect Social Security, Medicare, healthcare in general, increase defense spending and support for Veterans, and cap overall federal spending at this year’s level. What I needed to see from this bill was that Southwest Ohioans would be protected: that no veterans would lose benefits, folks would continue to receive Social Security checks, and that no child would lose access to food through the SNAP program. This negotiated bill would do that, so I voted yes. We were able to avoid a catastrophic default, and get a budget done that protected folks back home.

“We need more bipartisan, pragmatic leaders. There were folks on the left and right that voted against this bill. Had they prevailed, we could have defaulted on America and sent the economy into a tailspin. Millions of Americans would have lost their jobs and prices would have skyrocketed. Americans needs more bipartisan, pragmatic leaders who understand the importance of compromise in effective governing. Folks who are committed to getting things done. Despite the horrible process that got us here, protecting our country from economic catastrophe should be an area of common ground. Southwest Ohio sent me to Congress in part to restore normalcy in government; to be bipartisan, accountable, transparent, and reliable. That’s who I am, and that’s why I voted yes.”

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