House Republicans passed a package of legislation Wednesday that would raise the debt ceiling through early next year while also slashing government spending, sparking a confrontation with Democrats as the bill heads to the Senate.
The bill, called the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, passed 217 to 215 without Democratic support. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona), Rep. Matt Gates (R-Florida), Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Kentucky), and Rep. Ken Back (R-Colorado) resigned.
House Speaker McCarthy (R-California) touted the bill as a bargaining tool to force him to negotiate spending cuts in exchange for President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). ing. Increased Debt Limits.
“You can’t sit like the president and ignore the problem,” McCarthy said. “We want to sit down. We want to work together, and that’s exactly what this bill is doing, giving us the bargaining power.”
The bill comes in response to the US approaching its debt ceiling this summer. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned of an “economic catastrophe” if Congress and Biden do not move to suspend or raise the country’s borrowing limit.
Biden and Schumer want a “clean” debt ceiling hike without the spending cuts that House Republicans are aiming for.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and President Joe Biden are seen during the bill being signed on the South Lawn of the White House on August 9, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Republican Party’s current proposal, the Limit, Save, and Grow Act, will save $4.8 trillion over the next decade.
Biden, who has vowed to veto the bill, taunted House Republicans hours before it passed, asking them about what they accuse the president of “not taking action” in negotiations. .
“They haven’t decided on the debt ceiling yet,” Biden said with a laugh, adding, “I’m happy to see McCarthy, but we won’t talk about whether the debt ceiling will be extended. That’s non-negotiable.”
President Biden on Debt Ceiling Negotiations: “They haven’t decided on the debt ceiling yet… Nice to see McCarthy, but not as to whether the debt ceiling will be extended. That’s non-negotiable.” pic.twitter.com/urzrNpBmAE
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 26, 2023
Passage of the bill would be an important achievement for Republicans in a slightly divided House, undermining the positions of Biden and Schumer, but House Republicans are glaring at them with a show of solidarity on the debt-restriction plan.
Republican Leader Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Los Angeles) told Breitbart News: “They didn’t believe we could actually get this done, so this is a very important and symbolic thing for us to do today.”
The package, which will raise the debt ceiling until early next year, is packed with conservative priorities.
This includes blocking Biden’s student loan bailout, canceling unspent funds allocated to coronavirus, expanding labor requirements for welfare recipients, and the recent IRS funding and “Inflation Reduction Act” specific climate change measures. Repeal of the relevant portion, which includes limiting increases in discretionary spending to 1% per year for 10 years.
But achieving consensus on the law has been a challenge for McCarthy, House Majority Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota), and other leaders.
RELATED — Watch: McCarthy Pledges Limits
Emer had been voting on it since February, but in the days leading up to the vote, more than half a dozen Republicans had expressed reservations or outright opposition to voting on the bill.
Among them are Midwestern groups concerned about eliminating biofuel tax credits, Gates and a bewildered Rep. George Santos (R-New York) challenge provisions on welfare recipient labor requirements, Chet is similarly massive at current debt levels ($31 trillion).
House Liberty Committee Chairman Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) appears to be non-committal on the bill until Election Day, and he endorsed it after the bill was slightly amended by the Rules Committee early Wednesday morning. showed that it did
While the bill is “not perfect,” Perry said it is a “big step.”
Despite unsatisfied defectors and an absence from the vote that threatened to derail the bill, Republican leaders maintained unwavering confidence that the bill would pass, and officials believed McCarthy would have the vote. I’ve been in and out of McCarthy’s office all week as I try to make sure I’m there.
Mr. Schumer assured the party that the bill would be dead by the time it reached the Senate, mocking it as “America’s law of default” and stating that “Americans get either a punch in the belly or a blow to the head.” to force them to accept the
The majority leader has shown no willingness to cooperate with House Republicans at this stage.
The bill is “a ransom note to the American people to suffer the Republican Party’s radical right-wing agenda or suffer a catastrophic default. The Democrats will not allow it,” Schumer said.
Republican failure to comply with American law is DOA in the Senate.
Suffering from the Republican Party’s radical, right-wing agenda or suffering a catastrophic default is a ransom note to the American people.
Democrats will not allow it.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 26, 2023
Please contact Ashley Oliver (aoliver@breitbart.com). Follow her on Twitter. @asholiver.
