A Way Out of the Debt Ceiling Crisis

May 24, 2023

Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on raising the United States federal government’s debt ceiling and preventing a . President Joe Biden on Monday but were unable to resolve their disagreements. Republicans want to extract from Democrats in exchange for voting to raise the debt ceiling. It鈥檚 a battle that has been fought in the past.

Meanwhile, unionized government employees are stepping in. The National Association of Government Employees has citing the 14th Amendment and calling the debt limit unconstitutional. NAGE president David Holway explained that, 鈥淭his litigation is both an effort to protect our members from illegal furloughs and to correct an unconstitutional statute that frequently creates uncertainty and anxiety for millions of Americans.鈥�

Jeff Hauser, Executive Director of spoke with 精东影业 Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on Rising Up With Sonali about the political fight and the numerous options that are available to lawmakers to end it.

The views聽expressed聽here and on聽Rising Up With Sonali聽do not necessarily reflect the聽opinion聽of 精东影业 Media.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 精东影业 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽精东影业 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.