POLITICS

House conservatives were never going to blow up the debt ceiling

Their personal financial portfolios had too much to lose

Christian Grose
3Streams
Published in
7 min readJun 1, 2023

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By Christian Grose and Jordan Carr Peterson

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are both members of the House Freedom Caucus. They both denied the results of the 2020 election and are two of the most far-right members of Congress. To many observers of politics, they are carbon copies of MAGA conservatism.

Photo by Blogging Guide on Unsplash

Yet Greene voted to extend the debt limit, while Boebert vocally opposed the increase and favored putting the U.S. into default.* Greene was not alone among conservatives in her support for increasing the debt ceiling. On May 31, 2023, the U.S. House voted 314–117 to extend the nation’s debt limit. In total, 149 Republicans voted to extend the debt limit and 71 Republicans voted to place the country into default. On the Democratic side, 165 voted yes and 46 voted no. If this bill did not pass, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States would run out of money.

One big difference between Greene and Boebert is their personal financial investments. Marjorie Taylor Greene is heavily invested in the stock market and Lauren Boebert is not.

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Christian Grose
3Streams

Dr. Christian Grose is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Southern California. He is Principal of Data Viewpoint.