Debt ceiling: Kansas Senator says 'no deal' is 'not a solution'
WASHINGTON (KSNT) - Kansas Senator Jerry Moran said 'no deal' on the U.S. debt ceiling is 'not a solution' during a speech in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.
"We are seeing first-hand the consequence for spending outside our means, and there will continue to be more consequences... but no deal is not a solution either," Moran said. "This is really the clash of a bad outcome of a default... and the bad outcome of more spending, more inflation, and a greater challenge to our country and its economy."
"No deal is not a solution... and defaulting... I can't see any way that that is helpful to Kansans or Americans," he explained.
The U.S. Senate is set to take a vote on the debt ceiling agreement to avoid a default.
The bipartisan deal leaves Medicaid untouched, but expands work requirements for SNAP benefits up to the age of 55. It also restarts student loan payments by the end of the summer, and claws back unspent coronavirus relief money. Some members of the Kansas delegation, however, argue that the bill doesn't go far enough.
“It does not address the true problem, which is our $31 trillion national debt,” U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, said in an interview Thursday morning.
“At the end of the day, this legislation does minimal to impact that national debt," Marshall continued. "We’re going to still be adding around $1.3 trillion of national debt this year. I just don’t think there’s enough in there that I can get behind.”
The House voted 314-117 to pass the bill on Wednesday.
Three of the state's four U.S. Representatives in the House voted in favor of the plan.