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The Treasury Department started taking so-called “extraordinary measures” to keep paying the federal government’s bills as the U.S. hit its debt limit this past Thursday.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers Friday that she believes the extraordinary steps could allow the government to pay its obligations until early June.

Yellen urged Congress to “act in a timely manner to increase or suspend the debt limit,” as failing to do so could lead to a first-ever default on U.S. debt and cause economic damage around the world.

Legislation to increase or suspend the debt ceiling would require both passage by the House of Representatives and Senate and the president’s signature. If either house of Congress refuses to pass such legislation, a catastrophic default would occur. Irresponsible lawmakers could hold the debt limit hostage to try to force policy changes that they otherwise could not achieve.

The threat to Social Security and Medicare is real.

Extremist right-wing Republicans in Congress have said that unless spending cuts in Social Security and Medicare are included in legislation to increase the debt limit, the House would not pass the bill. In other words, they are willing to risk default by the federal government to fulfill their wish to cut Social Security and Medicare.

Nuts like Green, Boebert, Gaetz, Bosar, Biggs, and others like them in the House won’t care about a default.

Last year, before the elections, I posted a blog warning that SS and Medicare would be attacked if Republicans gained a majority. I listed numerous threats openly expressed by leaders in the House and Senate.

Republicans love to say they are wanting to correct “Entitlement Programs.” The two largest so-called entitlement programs—but more correctly, earned benefits programs—are Social Security and Medicare, which are funded through payroll taxes.

Don’t be surprised when they actually follow through on those threats. Kevin McCarthy, who was finally elected Speaker of The House following a 15 ballot clown show during which he gave away his testicles to obtain the gavel, won’t fight back against the hard-liners. Any one member of the House can call for a vote to have him removed, under the new House Rules he agreed to, in order to obtain his beloved gavel.

Should Republicans reduce or detrimentally change SS and Medicare, the short-term effect would be devastating to more than 60 million senior citizens. Add to that number, tens of millions nearing the current retirement age, who may see the minimum retirement age raised once again. One Republican proposal has it being raised to “average life expectancy.”

The long-term result would be that those affected won’t forget in 2024. Those include Republicans who scream “Socialism!” at every opportunity, but gleefully enjoy the the two biggest forms of social welfare managed by the government and funded over a lifetime by those who worked to receive them.