RVIA Urges Debt Ceiling Settlement

A picture of a dollar sign made into a road with one side ending in green pasture and the other side a treacherous cliff

On Wednesday, RVIA sent a letter to the four leaders of the House and Senate, urging Congress to quickly reach a bipartisan agreement to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

The letter, authored by RVIA President and CEO Craig Kirby, said defaulting on the country’s financial obligations would inflict significant harm on the economy and result in hundreds of thousands of job losses.

“The consequences of such an unprecedented failure to raise the debt limit are well documented,” Kirby wrote, “job losses, surging unemployment, lower stock prices, and the loss of trillions in household wealth. Moreover, families, communities, businesses, and state and local governments will not receive the services, money or economic activity on which they depend.”

Kirby said the RV industry would be hit particularly hard as the industry represents one of the largest discretionary purchases a consumer can make besides a home.

“The Great Recession of 2008-2009 clearly demonstrated that low consumer confidence, tight credit and the housing crisis could combine to create historic distress for our customers and our industry,” Kirby wrote, saying the RV industry supports nearly 680,000 jobs and pays $48 billion in wages.

Additionally, Kirby said the RV industry is filled with small and medium-sized manufacturers and suppliers, comprising one of the most entrepreneurial industries in the country.

“A government default and the resulting tight bank credit and low consumer confidence would bring sales to a screeching halt,” he wrote. “In addition to a declining pool of potential customers that would be squeezed further by the lack of credit, financing for RV dealer inventory would disappear.”

Because of the potential dangers, Kirby said RVIA called on congressional leadership and President Joe Biden to act and avoid a default.

“In our view, the state of the U.S. economy is far too important to jeopardize,” Kirby wrote. “We join businesses around the country to urge quick action on passing a solution to the debt ceiling as past Congresses have done under Republican and Democratic presidents alike. It is imperative that we promptly advance a compromise proposal to put an end to this uncertainty that only serves to create a dangerous financial cliff for our nation and put American families’ financial futures at risk.”

 

 

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