As the debt ceiling negotiations continue in the House, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that a failure to raise the limit would cause massive chaos in the U.S. economy.
"The stakes of a default cannot be understated," Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN Tuesday.
"The chaos that would ensue and the impact on people’s everyday lives would likely be immediate and it is one of the reasons why we need to take default off the table," the congresswoman continued.
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Republicans need to "agree to raise the debt limit because, frankly, this is a very serious situation that nobody wants," she added.
"This is not a partisan issue," Ocasio-Cortez added.
President Joe Biden has told the Republicans that the White House is still "dug in" on raising taxes and increasing spending, according to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
While Democrats have insisted on raising the debt limit without preconditions, Republicans are lining up behind the House-passed Limit, Save, Grow Act, which would increase the federal borrowing limit by $1.5 trillion while also reducing spending by roughly $150 billion from this year to the next.
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Ocasio-Cortez continued to attack the Republicans for seeking to lower the deficit.
"It’s reckless, it’s irresponsible. It will hurt rural communities, it will hurt urban communities. It will hurt seniors, it will hurt kids enrolling in Head Start," she said.
Biden has also threatened to use the 14th Amendment — which states that the "validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law…shall not be questioned" — to ignore Republican demands and instead unilaterally increase the limit without Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most famous members of the far-left "Squad" in the House, also argued that the Republicans were holding the U.S. "hostage" in debt ceiling negotiations in rhetoric that has been repeated across the Democratic Party. On Tuesday, House Democrat Vice Chair Ted Lieu also said at a press conference that "this is not a negation; this is hostage taking."
McCarthy has called on Democrats to accept his Limit, Save, Grow Act in the Senate to avoid default. There are 8 days left until the U.S. government is expected to run out of cash to pay its current obligations.
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Fox News’ Kelly Phares and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
