rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/tell-congress-stop-the-shutdown-pass-government-funding?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-tell-congress-stop-the-shutdown-pass-government-funding' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers https://actionnetwork.org/groups/e-news-ifpte https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg Congress needs to act urgently and pass a clean debt limit increase before June 1st. If Congress fails to raise the debt limit, the U.S. government will default on it's debt with catastrophic impacts for our economy, for working people, for retirement savings, and for essential government services. This crisis is entirely avoidable. Unfortunately, House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is refusing to consider increasing the U.S. debt limit -- something Congress has done 78 times since 1960 -- unless President Biden and Democrats agree to long-term budget spending caps that will deepen economic inequality and starve our economy of necessary investments, impacting Americans in every state and Congressional District. House Republicans have passed the so-called "Limit, Save, Grow Act," H.R. 2811, a partisan lose-lose deal that holds hostage the U.S. Treasury's ability to pay its bills on spending that Congress has already authorized. This bill proposes to pass a debt limit increase in exchange for a 10-year budget cap that would result in drastic and unsustainable cuts to VA health services that veterans count on, worsening service delivery and wait times for Social Security and Medicare, furloughs and layoffs of federal employees, reduction of the number rail inspectors and air traffic controllers, underfunding of critical infrastructure modernization, and cuts to Head Start for preschool children and food security benefits for low-income Americans.       Congress -- Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike -- needs to act now and pass a debt limit increase, and get back to work on passing a government funding bill for fiscal year 2024. Click "start writing" and tell your Senators and your Congressional Representative to: 1) pass a clean debt limit increase, 2) refuse any deal that cuts Federal funding for programs that Americans count on. America must meet its obligations, pay its bills, and prevent a national default on the debt NOW. For more information, see IFPTE's online fact sheet, "What is the debt ceiling and what happens if Congress doesn't increase the debt ceiling?" https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-stop-the-shutdown-pass-government-funding