The Debt Ceiling Debate gathers attention as McCarthy Meets with Biden to Discuss the Economic Impact of Possible Default on Social Security and Veterans' Pensions

Recently, McCarthy was elected as a house speaker and had a meeting with Biden about the increasing debt ceiling, reflecting the economic impact on the people once the debt ceiling is officially raised.

Republicans are pointing out the government's lax spending as a fault. If the government promises to reduce “waste spending,” it will negotiate a debt ceiling. However, nothing has been officially revealed about the specific targets or scale of government spending cuts. Republican lawmakers want to cut domestic programs and military spending drastically. However, the social security system for retirees and the disabled and 'medicare' is not included in the spending cuts. In other words, Republicans say that raising the debt ceiling is inevitable without spending cuts.

While the debt ceiling debate is a fiery debate, the U.S. government's debt has already reached the statutory ceiling. On the 19th of last month, the government's total debt reached the cap set by Congress of $31.4 trillion. The Treasury Department is implementing "special measures" to avoid default, which it believes will allow the government to continue operating until early June. However, if the debt ceiling is not raised by this time, the U.S. could default.

If such a default occurs, the people will be directly affected. Specifically, federal civil servants' salaries will be suspended, and paying social security and veterans' pensions will be challenging. Also, economists are concerned that the U.S. credit rating will be downgraded. Generally, a rating downgrade limits a country’s ability to borrow money and increase returns to investors. The stock market will collapse, and the dollar's value will be devalued, affecting the global economy.

To conclude, if the debt ceiling continues to be raised - based on the concessions the Republicans are demanding–citizens of the United States would go through a series of economic impacts fatal to their everyday life. It is truly a debate whether who it is that is benefitting from these changes, and to look over each problem in hand from the citizens’ perspective.