Brendan Boyle: “First, I thank my friend, Mr. Arrington, and truly, we have been friends for our entire time of service here. I respect…”

“First, I thank my friend, Mr. Arrington, and truly, we have been friends for our entire time of service here. I respect his sincerity and how committed he is on this issue. I say to him, and I hope he will take this under consideration, that it is so irresponsible to use the debt ceiling in this way. Here is the analogy. I mentioned three times we raised the debt ceiling with a Republican President. Imagine if, in one of those debt ceiling debates, this side of the aisle said: ``Well, we care deeply about raising the minimum wage. Right now, we have the longest period in American history, for as long as the minimum wage has existed, without an increase, about 15 years.'' What if this side of the aisle said: ``We are not going to vote for a debt limit increase. We are going to use this as leverage, and in return, you need to raise the minimum wage, or you need to expand Medicare to those 55 and older.'' That would be irresponsible, as well. The debt ceiling is about past spending that both sides often voted for, that Presidents of both parties signed into law. Now, if we want to have a conversation about future spending, we welcome that. We will negotiate on that, but we will not negotiate on whether or not America pays its bills, period. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici).”