House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is putting President Biden and Senate Democrats on the spot in the ongoing debt limit standoff by teeing up legislation that would curtail spending in exchange for raising the cap on how much the federal government can borrow to meet expenses.
Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, told an audience at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday that legislation raising the debt ceiling until May 2024 would soon move through the House. Mr. McCarthy said Republicans are readying the bill, despite President Biden’s refusal to negotiate spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
“A no-strings-attached debt limit increase will not pass, but since the president continues to hide, House Republicans will take action,” Mr. McCarthy said.
Democrats and the White House dismissed Mr. McCarthy’s speech, saying the speaker was engaging in “brinkmanship” with the country’s ability to pay its bill.
“Speaker McCarthy is holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage, threatening our economy and hardworking Americans’ retirement,” said White House spokesman Andrew Bates.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Mr. McCarthy “continues to bumble our country towards a catastrophic default.”
SEE ALSO: McCarthy vows House GOP will pass debt ceiling bill in ‘coming weeks’
Mr. Biden has refused to negotiate with House Republicans for months, arguing that because Republicans and Democrats have contributed to the more than $31 trillion national debt, both parties should come together to raise the debt limit.
In calling for a clean debt-ceiling hike, the White House cites prior instances during the Reagan and Trump administrations where Democrats and Republicans opted to raise the borrowing cap in a bipartisan fashion.
Congressional Republicans say those instances, however, do not fit the current moment. They say that after two years of multitrillion dollar spending bills and decades-high inflation, the American public entrusted Republicans with control of the House so they could address the national debt.
“President Biden does not get to stick his fingers in his ears and refuse to listen, talk or negotiate,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican “The American people know that. The White House needs to stop wasting time and start negotiating with the speaker of the House.”
House Republicans are proposing to raise the debt limit until spring 2024 in exchange for capping nondefense spending and limiting future budget growth to 1% annually over the next decade. They further want to rescind Mr. Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, new green energy tax credits and $90.5 billion in unspent COVID-19 relief.
GOP lawmakers are also pushing to institute work requirements for social welfare programs, including Medicare and food stamps. Beyond cutting spending and restructuring the social safety net, GOP lawmakers want to overhaul the nation’s energy-permitting laws and pass legislation requiring congressional approval for new regulations with an economic impact of more than $100 million per year.
SEE ALSO: Schumer digs in against debt limit talks with GOP ahead of default deadline
“I have full confidence that if we limit our federal spending, if we save taxpayer money, [and] if we grow our economy,” Mr. McCarthy said, “we will end the dependence on China. We will curb inflation and we will protect Social Security and Medicare for the next generation.”
Republicans are eyeing a quick timeline to pass the debt-limit proposal. The House is set to be in session until April 29, when lawmakers adjourn for a week-long recess.
Aides to the GOP leadership told The Washington Times that passing the debt-limit legislation by the end of the month would “put the ball in the White House’s court.”
Mr. McCarthy’s remarks came two days after Congress blew through the April 15 deadline by which lawmakers were required to pass legislation beginning the budget process.
While the legislation serves as little more than an aspirational blueprint to guide congressional committees on spending, this year marks the 20th in a row that lawmakers have ignored the deadline.
“Budgeting is a fundamental part of governing, and the fact that Congress has not taken this role seriously shows just how broken our budget process has become,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “We are already over halfway through the current fiscal year, and there’s been little progress on negotiating funding for 2024.”
Mr. McCarthy said Monday that House Republicans were waiting on Mr. Biden to begin negotiating in earnest before passing any fiscal legislation.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said the assertion was bogus, noting that Republicans control a chamber of Congress and did not need to wait on the president before passing legislation.
“Extreme MAGA Republicans continue to treat the full faith and credit of the United States as a hostage situation while their so-called budget proposal remains in the witness protection program,” said Mr. Jeffries.
The partisan back-and-forth is taking place as the Treasury has undertaken extraordinary measures to ensure the government continues to pay its debt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that those measures will last only until mid-July, by which time Congress must raise the debt limit or risk a default.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the U.S. government has already borrowed $1.1 trillion this fiscal year to make interest payments on the debt.
• Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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