Republican unemployment solution: cut more jobs

Think Progress:

Rep. Broun Fine With 250,000 Public Employees Being Laid Off, Says They Should ‘Get A Real Job’

Congressional and White House negotiators are currently trying to hash out a deal under which the United States will raise its debt ceiling, which is normally a non-controversial process that simply requires a vote on a clean bill to hike the limit.

Some obstinate conservatives have decried raising the debt ceiling, saying they will vote against any hike. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) is one of these conservatives. Appearing on conservative radio host Martha Zoller’s show today, Broun not only pledged to vote against raising the debt ceiling, but he also shrugged off the potential loss of a quarter million jobs as a result of doing so. Claiming that these employees would largely be public sector workers, he told Zoller that they should get a real job, anyway:

BROUN: We have created this huge debt. […] We’ve got to stop the outrageous spending that’s going on. We hear the CBO says well if we don’t raise the debt limit, it’s going to put so many people out of work, I don’t remember then number, I think it’s 250,000 or something, are gonna be put out of work. Well those are gonna be government employees that are put out of work. There are a lot of government employees that need to go find a real job!

For what it’s worth, Broun should know that it won’t be just a quarter million government employees who would lose their jobs through no fault of their own if the debt ceiling isn’t raised. The entire global economy would be hit by the repercussions of such an event, and millions of people worldwide would have their livelihoods threatened.