Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and the value of the dollar in exchange markets. "We hope you will take President Reagan’s message to heart and put what’s best for America’s economy ahead of gaining a short-term political advantage," they added. That's because, unlike many Republicans in the House, the fiscally conservative late president believed it was essential for the United States to make good on its all obligations and raise the debt ceiling. Tea Party Republicans, in “cut, cap and balance” legislation on the House floor Tuesday, voted to cut government spending permanently to 18 percent of gross domestic product; under Reagan, spending was as high as 23.5 percent and never below 21.3 percent of GDP. No wonder Democrats on Tuesday were claiming the Republican icon as one of their own. After the caucus meeting with the Reagan clip, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) began the day’s debate by reading from a 1983 Reagan letter to Congress warning that “the full consequences of a default — or even the serious prospect of default — by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate.” 
 
 “In the year of his 100th birthday, the Great Communicator might be amazed at how far his own image has shifted from the original,” Quigley charged.
– The Democrats, the party that Ronald Reagan ditched in 1962, says that even the Gipper would be on their side in today's debt ceiling debate. Dems are telling Republicans they should follow Reagan's lead in fiscal responsibility, circulating a 1987 radio address in which Reagan slammed brinksmanship and stressed that the US had a "special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations," the Huffington Post reports. Reagan—who presided over 11 tax hikes and 18 increases in the debt ceiling—probably wouldn't be welcome in today's GOP, writes Dana Milbank at the Washington Post. While most Republicans continue praising Reagan, he notes that a few have admitted that he wouldn't be able to win the nomination in the current atmosphere. Steve Kornacki at Salon, however, believes that the Democrats are overplaying the Reagan card. If the Gipper were around today, he'd be siding with House Republicans and "finding some way to rationalize away his past statements," he writes.