WASHINGTON — Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Monday that House Republicans will pass their own debt ceiling bill to empower the U.S. to meet its obligations until 2024.
“Since the president continues to hide, House Republicans will take action. So here’s our plan: In the coming weeks the House will vote on a bill to lift the debt ceiling into the next year, save taxpayers trillions of dollars, make us less dependent upon China, curb our high inflation — all without touching Social Security and Medicare,” McCarthy said in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange.
McCarthy didn’t offer specifics or point to a bill. He criticized President Joe Biden for refusing to negotiate policy conditions for extending the debt limit, a position that most Democrats support.
“Let me be clear. A no-strings-attached debt limit increase will not pass,” McCarthy said, adding of the forthcoming GOP plan: “It limits, it saves and it grows.”
McCarthy oversees a narrow House majority and it won’t be easy for him to find the votes to pass a debt limit hike without bipartisan support. Democrats overwhelmingly support Biden’s position that Congress should pass a simple debt limit bill to avert an economic meltdown and negotiate budget policy separately, without the possibility of default if talks falter.
“Without exaggeration, American debt is a ticking time bomb that will detonate unless we take serious, responsible action. Yet how has President Biden reacted to this issue? He has done nothing,” McCarthy said. “Debt limit negotiations are an opportunity to examine our nation’s finances.”
Any bill would need approval from the Democratic-led Senate before heading to Biden’s desk for his signature. The Treasury Department has set an early June deadline to raise the debt limit, but other experts believe it could be between July and September.
Ahead of McCarthy’s speech, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said: “There is one responsible solution to the debt limit: addressing it promptly, without brinksmanship or hostage-taking — as Republicans did three times in the last administration and as Presidents Trump and Reagan argued for in office.”
Bates accused McCarthy of “holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage, threatening our economy and hardworking Americans’ retirement.”
He added: “A speech isn’t a plan, but it’s clear that extreme MAGA Republicans’ wish lists will impose devastating cuts on hardworking families, send manufacturing overseas, take health care and food assistance away from millions of people, and increase energy costs.”
Kyle Stewart and Alexandra Bacallao contributed.
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