WASHINGTON — Republican House Leaders Announce Wednesday their suggestion A one-year increase in the debt ceiling was sought in exchange for spending cuts and policy changes. They tried to gather the votes to pass the fiscal plan in order to put President Biden on the negotiating table.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in his address to the House that the bill will be put to a vote next week. , urged the conference to come together around the bill to speed up discussions with the White House amid growing anxiety about an impending default deadline.
Even if Mr. McCarthy could endorse the bill at the Republican caucus, it is by no means guaranteed. McCarthy described the effort as a way to get the White House and Democrats involved in cutting spending at a time when the country’s debt has ballooned to about $31.4 trillion.
“Now that we have put in place a clear plan to raise the debt ceiling in a responsible manner, Democrats no longer have an excuse not to negotiate,” McCarthy said.
The law suspends the debt ceiling, which limits how much the US is allowed to borrow, until March 2024 or until debt reaches $32.9 trillion. That would create new fiscal conflicts when the 2024 presidential election hits a critical moment. House Republicans have decided to freeze total federal spending at last year’s levels in exchange for temporarily suspending the cap, allowing Congress to recoup unused pandemic relief funds and giving more money to Food Stamp and Medicaid recipients. It calls for the enactment of strict labor requirements.
Understanding Biden’s Budget
President Biden has proposed a $6.8 trillion budget that aims to increase spending on military and social programs while reducing future budget deficits.
House Republican leaders have also, at the request of the far-right Freedom Caucus, pushed for Biden’s groundbreaking health, climate and tax laws, including tax credits to encourage greenhouse gas emissions reductions and an $80 refund. Added measures to the bill to repeal the main intent. billion allocated to the Internal Revenue Service. The Republican Congress says it wants to cut spending to reduce the deficit, but eliminating IRS funding actually reduces government revenue through tax collection, effectively wasting government money. said the congressional scorekeeper.
The bill also bans the administration from enacting student loan forgiveness plans and includes bills already passed by House Republicans to expand mining and fossil fuel production in the country.
Overall, the plan is significantly watered down from some of the party’s goals outlined earlier this year, including balancing the federal budget over a decade. But in the face of mounting external pressure to avoid a catastrophic debt default as early as June, Republicans framed the bill as a smart solution to start negotiations.
McCarthy said Wednesday that the legislation would save taxpayers $4.5 trillion, but no independent body has yet assessed the economic impact of the legislation. An analysis by the bipartisan congressional scorekeeper on tax law last year found that completely repealing Biden’s health, climate and tax laws would actually increase the deficit.
South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman said he was a member of the Freedom Caucus who never voted to raise the debt ceiling. “We can always negotiate.”
It’s unclear whether McCarthy still has the vote to pass the bill. The Republican Party, plagued by internal divisions, has so far failed to wrap a conference around a full budget blueprint. And a handful of far-right Republicans, including Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, are utterly hesitant about the prospect of raising the debt ceiling.
Still, some of the convention’s most conservative lawmakers expressed cautious optimism about the plan, citing Mr. McCarthy’s efforts to organize far-right opposition to what amounted to the House Republicans’ first proposal. indicates that you are not facing a blocked block.
Still, the Democrats who are demanding that the GOP vote unconditionally to raise the debt ceiling haven’t stopped yelling about the rift in the GOP House of Representatives meeting.
Majority leader Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said, “We are getting closer and closer to the time when we must act to avoid a default.” “Every speech, every letter, every wish list and meeting The underlying facts of the family or their families have not changed.At this point, Chairman McCarthy has no plans to avoid a catastrophic default on the debt.
Jim Tankersley contributed to the report.
