Congressional lawmakers have set themselves on a collision course over the debt ceiling after the Republican Speaker of the House said an increase without cuts won’t fly only to have House Democrats demand an end to what they’re calling political theater.
“Once again, Speaker McCarthy and the GOP are choosing Wall Street over Main Street and hard-working families. Make no mistake: the recklessness on display today directly endangers the financial security of the American people,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark said in a Monday statement.
The Revere Democrat, the second ranking liberal in the House, was responding to a morning assertion by California Rep. Kevin McCarthy in which the Bakersfield Republican said conservatives controlling the lower chamber would not raise the debt ceiling without also attempting to address other concerns.
“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 on China, curve our high inflation all without touching Social Security or Medicare,” McCarthy said. “Let me be clear: a no-strings attached debt limit increase will not pass.”
According to financial analysts, the nation’s debt ceiling must be raised, suspended or eliminated by August in order to avoid missing any debt payments and slipping into default.
If the debt ceiling is not raised, economists say, the resulting financial blowback would be severe enough that our economy may struggle to recover.
Biden wants the borrowing cap, currently set to $34.4 trillion, raised without preconditions. Republicans, specifically some of those who had to be convinced to give McCarthy the Speaker’s gavel, want to see the limit raised only when paired with spending cuts or other concessions from Democrats.
“The bloated, overgrown bureaucracy that has expanded under President Biden needs to be pruned. And that’s exactly what we’ll do. If Washington wants to spend more, it’ll have to come together to find savings elsewhere. Just like every single American household does every single day,” McCarthy said Monday while marking his 100th day as Speaker with a speech before the New York Stock Exchange.
According to Clark, the Speaker and his party are playing with fire when they should be getting to work.
“There is an urgent and simple solution to prevent default: a clean, unconditional vote on the debt ceiling – a vote Republicans and Democrats took three times under Donald Trump,” Clark said.
“President Biden has put forward a budget that lowers costs, invests in America, and reduces the deficit – building on the Inflation Reduction Act’s $200 billion in deficit savings,” she continued. “If Republicans are serious, they will stop the political theater, do their job, and work with us to enact a plan that puts families first.”
According to McCarthy, the dire consequences of inaction on the debt ceiling predicted by economists and financial experts represent exactly the sort of scenario he aims to avoid.
“Without exaggeration, American debt is a ticking time bomb that will detonate unless we take serious, responsible action,” he said.
The White House responded to McCarthy’s assertion he would hold the nation’s finances in limbo in pursuit of concessions by quoting former President Donald Trump on the matter.
“In 2019, Donald Trump himself said, ‘I can’t imagine anybody ever even thinking of using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge.’ This morning, Speaker McCarthy did just that,” Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said.
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Original story HERE.