Americans could lose $20,000 in retirement savings and private student-loan borrowers could see their payments surge if Republicans don't raise the debt ceiling, a new report says

• The Joint Economic Committee released a report on the consequences of failing to raise the debt ceiling.

• It said Americans could lose $20,000 in retirement savings, and private student-debt loads could surge.

• Republicans have floated a range of spending cuts to raise the debt ceiling that Democrats have rejected.

A new congressional report delves into the catastrophe that would result should Congress fail to raise the debt ceiling.

On Thursday, the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) — a congressional group that reviews economic policy — released a report analyzing the consequences of failing to raise the debt ceiling. Since Republicans took over a majority in the House, they have expressed their intent to use raising the debt ceiling, and keeping the US on top of paying its bills, as leverage to achieve their own priorities, largely in the form of major spending cuts.

With the US expected to run out of extraordinary measures to pay its bills as soon as July, Democratic lawmakers — and President Joe Biden — have been slamming GOP lawmakers for failing to put forth a plan to raise the debt limit and keep the country from default, which would be unprecedented with severe consequences. The JEC report highlighted how Americans could be impacted should the country default for the first time ever this year.

"This report shows that a Republican default crisis means real dollars coming out of American families' wallets and savings decimated. This is not a hypothetical exercise to the millions of Americans – including veterans and seniors – who rely on the United States government for benefits, pensions, and disability," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

"House Republicans' approach is dangerous and destabilizing," he continued. "Even the threat of a breach will raise costs on everything from car loans to mortgages. Republicans are gambling with Americans' savings, benefits, and lives, all to play a political game."