House Democrats’ campaign arm has launched a new website that targets moderate and vulnerable Republicans for supporting spending cuts outlined in Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling bill.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) unveiled “GOPVotedToDefault.com,” which names 31 Republican members of Congress and accuses them of seeking to cut funding for veterans, Social Security and seniors’ healthcare.
Those are the same attack lines Democrats have been using against Republicans even as Congress and the White House are trying to find an agreement on how to raise the debt ceiling before the government is unable to pay its bills after June 1.
Among those listed is Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who narrowly won her re-election by just a few hundred votes. Others targeted are Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Ryan Zinke of Montana, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and most freshman New York Republicans.
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The website features a prominent timer tracking how many days it’s been since House Republicans passed their Limit, Save, Grow Act, which seeks to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion while also cutting discretionary spending by roughly $150 billion from this year to the next.
It says underneath, “31 vulnerable Republicans sided with extremists to hold our economy hostage in order to enact cruel cuts to programs that keep Americans healthy, safe, and secure. See how your congressperson’s default ransom note will impact your district.”
House Republicans have said their bill does not include any of the cuts Democrats are warning about, and have vowed not to reduce funding for veterans’ care or touch seniors’ benefits.
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The new online pressure campaign comes just as Democrats are gathering signatures to make an end run around McCarthy to bring a clean debt limit increase to the floor — something every GOP lawmaker has spoken out against.
Their discharge petition, which would allow them to bring a bill to the floor over the speaker’s objections provided it gets 218 signatures, has 210 of 213 Democratic names on it. Rep. Mary Peltola’s, D-Alaska, office told Fox News Digital that she intends to sign it upon her return to Washington, D.C. But to go anywhere, it would need at least several Republicans, which the conference has signaled would be an uphill battle.
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The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s rival to the DCCC, accused Democrats of ignoring their “spending crisis” to launch a partisan online attack.
“Instead of addressing the spending crisis they created, Democrats spend their time mocking up a microsite full of already debunked lies. Every moment wasted on useless stunts like this is a lost opportunity to work in a bipartisan way to avoid an economic catastrophe,” NRCC national press secretary Will Reinert told Fox News Digital.