Every few years, the national debt ceiling debate resurfaces and becomes a contentious political discussion. The Treasury Department defines the “debt limit” (or ceiling) as “the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments.”

Congressional Democrats want to increase the debt ceiling, while Republicans are threatening to practice the filibuster, a political strategy to stall and postpone the judgement day. 

It is the responsibility of these politicians to accurately represent their constituents by sacrificing partisanship in the name of upholding the traditional American value of business opportunity.

Deadlock borne of over-partisanship and unwillingness to cooperate across the aisle over the debt ceiling adversely affects working class Americans. The Treasury Department estimates that a government shutdown, induced by a default, would halt many of the activities currently undertaken by the Small Business Administration.

This means that the thousands of small business loans and grants still being processed for disaster aid, coronavirus assistance, working capital, and longer-term financing would be significantly delayed, with devastating implications. 

Yet again, America’s small business owners, often used as the hallmark of American opportunity, are left powerless, as affluent D.C. politicians debate and stall on their wellbeing. This is the very political complacency that motivated that exact demographic of the United States population to support dangerous politicians such as former President Donald Trump. There is a reason terms such as “drain the swamp” became so popular. If America wants to avoid four more years of Donald Trump, or someone like him, it is essential to avoid a political deadlock that continues to further polarize the current political climate, which adversely affects business owners and manual laborers.

The American dream is built upon the ideals of opportunity, and small businesses epitomize that. People immigrate here because of the opportunity the United States promises, and an arbitrary political stalemate that disproportionately affects those very businesses spits in the face of that ideal. Any politician who calls themselves patriotic should sacrifice rigid partisanship to foster an environment of opportunity that upholds classic American values. 

Biden’s administration has stated its inclination to move forward with a solution with only Democratic votes in Congress, a move Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has endorsed — because the Republicans refuse to budge from their opposition. While this might solve the problem for the coming years, it neglects addressing the underlying issues of partisan deadlock.

Part of the responsibility of elected officials, including President Biden, is to advocate and represent their constituents by collaborating across the aisle, for business owners across the country.