Kevin McCarthy Says House GOP Plans to Vote on Debt Limit, Spending Cuts
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said House Republicans plan to pass legislation raising the debt ceiling and curbing federal spending in the coming weeks, moving to establish a solidified GOP position in the negotiations with President Biden over the nation's borrowing limit.
In a speech Monday at the New York Stock Exchange, Mr. McCarthy laid out House Republicans' demands for agreeing to a debt-limit increase: They want Congress to place limits on federal spending, claw back Covid-19 aid and require Americans to work to receive federal benefits. Those measures will be paired with a debt-limit increase that will last into next year, Mr. McCarthy said.
“Let me be clear: A no-strings-attached debt-limit increase will not pass,” Mr. McCarthy said. “This will restore discipline to Washington.”
Democrats, who control the Senate, lambasted Mr. McCarthy’s demands. Mr. Biden has argued that Congress should raise the debt limit without broader changes to fiscal policy.
“Speaker McCarthy is holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage, threatening our economy and hardworking Americans’ retirement,” deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates said.
At stake in the impasse between the Republican-controlled House and Mr. Biden is the U.S. government’s ability to make payments on time— including on interest on its debts to bondholders .
The Treasury Department started relying on special accounting measures earlier this year to keep paying the government’s bills after running up against the roughly $31.4 trillion borrowing limit. How long those measures will last is uncertain, with forecasters expecting them to be exhausted some time between July and September.
If lawmakers don’t raise the debt limit before Treasury’s accounting maneuvers run out, the federal government could miss payments, destabilizing global financial markets and the economy.
Mr. Biden has said raising the debt ceiling should be separate from talks about government spending, but he has said he is open to negotiations about reducing deficits. Mr. Biden released a budget last month that reduces the deficit primarily by raising taxes—an approach that Mr. McCarthy rejected.
The White House and Democrats have called on Republicans to put out their own detailed plan for federal spending. But Republicans, who have a very slim majority in the House, have struggled to craft legislation for reducing spending and raising the debt limit that enjoys the near-unanimous support it would need to pass.
Conservative Republicans have pushed for deep spending cuts, a prospect that some moderate House Republicans oppose. The House Republican leading the chamber’s budget committee recently said it could be months before the caucus tries to pass a broad budget plan. House Democrats are expected to unanimously oppose the GOP plans.
While the pair met in February and discussed the debt limit, Mr. McCarthy repeatedly called on Mr. Biden to hold further talks on the topic. Mr. McCarthy on Monday blamed the Biden administration’s spending for inflation.
“The longer President Biden waits to be sensible to find an agreement, the more likely it becomes that this administration will bumble into the first default in our nation’s history,” Mr. McCarthy said.
Mr. McCarthy said House Republicans would try to revert federal spending on programs such as the military to last year’s levels. Going forward, growth on spending on so-called discretionary programs, which excludes Social Security and Medicare, would be limited to 1% a year, Mr. McCarthy said.
Many Republicans support increases in spending on the Pentagon. An overall limit on federal spending would require far slower growth in military spending or cuts to nonmilitary programs—or a combination of both. A routine compromise in spending negotiations has been to increase military spending, a GOP priority, and nonmilitary spending, a Democratic priority, at similar rates.
Mr. McCarthy also said the House Republican plan would require the federal government to rescind money approved for responding to the Covid-19 pandemic that hasn’t been spent. And he said that able-bodied Americans without children or other dependents should have to work to receive government benefits.
While House Republicans broadly support work requirements for programs such as Medicaid, which offers health insurance to low-income Americans, and food stamps, other cuts are expected to face opposition from more moderate Republicans. House Republican leaders held a call on Sunday with members to emphasize the importance of sticking together in the fiscal talks.
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Let me get this straight:
One partisan group drives spending through the roof, they lose the House and then they say "we have to now pay our debts."
Dear MR. McCarthy,
Please lay this bill out in full detail as to what you want to see happen and publish the hell out of it so that every American can see what you are trying to do. Lay it out in clear and simple terms as the majority of the American voting public seems to be able to understand the written word at about the 6th grade level, but lay it out fully. Take your case to the American public. Enough of the partisan talking points or the gaming of hitting the other side. If you lay it out clear and simple enough people will accept what you are saying and if it makes sense they will back you and force the Administration to come to the table. It's way past time that we take these issues out from behind closed doors and last minute omni-bus bills that will hide details.
Remember that you work for us.
A member of the voting public
The gop will not identify what they want to cut because those cuts that they want to make are unpopular with voters, including in red states...
Typical partisan response. You have no proof yet you offer bullshit. Rather than continue with the partisan shit, why don't you try to actually lay out something like evidence.
There is a little truth to what jbb said, it's the reason they haven't put cuts out yet, but we'll see what they are. My issue is the GOP coming out of committee today there are enough hardliners to possibly sink the bill as it is now.
If these hardliners do get their way then the moderates could balk. How McCarthy threads his way through this needle is going to be interesting. I'll be surprised if someone doesn't call a new vote on his Speaker position by October, now that any one Representative can do so.
No, an honest assessment of the gop in Congress that could propose a balanced budget if they wanted to but never have!
Oh, do enlighten us all on how many times Democrats have voted for a balanced budget.
A FALSE statement, easily proven to be 100% FALSE.
I'll even give you a source hard for you to dispute--The Fishwrap of Record--The vaunted New York Times!!!!!
The Programs You’d Have to Cut to Balance the Budget - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Why are you telling that tall tale?
Who do you think will swallow that lie?
The full faith and credit of the United States also depends upon responsible fiscal policy. Limitless Federal spending supported by debt only sucks more money out of the economy. Irresponsible fiscal policy will only result in deeper and longer lasting recessions. Growing the GDP with Federal debt is unwise.
Fiscal conservatives in DC are extremely rare and are limited by having no power.