Global Courant 2023-05-01 19:26:21
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., on Monday rejected the bill passed by the House to raise the debt ceiling and cut federal spending, saying Senate Democrats would hold a series of hearings on the bill — not to to consider it, but to warn the American public of how “dangerous” it is.
“The Senate will show the public what this bill really is,” Schumer wrote in a letter to his Democratic colleagues. “Starting this week, our committees will begin holding hearings to expose the true impact of this reckless legislation on ordinary Americans.”
He said the Senate Budget Committee would begin a hearing on the GOP bill on Thursday, and encouraged Democrast to “clear through public events and press how devastating this proposal really is to your voters.”
The Limit, Save, Grow Act passed the House last week without Democratic support in a vote on Wednesday night. In addition to raising the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion or through March 2024 — whichever benchmark is reached first — it would also reduce federal discretionary spending levels to those of 2022.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks at a news conference at the Capitol, April 17, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
President Biden has threatened to veto it if it gets to his desk, and Schumer has repeatedly criticized the proposed GOP cuts. The Democrats have refused to consider any proposal to trade a debt ceiling increase for spending cuts, and Schumer’s letter accused the Republicans of holding the country hostage with their bill.
“Last week, House Republicans sent a hard-right ransom note to the American people. The Republicans’ Default on America Act (DOA) offers two choices: either default on the debt or default on America, leaving law enforcement officers, veterans must be cut sharply. , families, teachers and children. Democrats will not allow it. Simply put, the Republican Default on America Act is pushing us closer to default,” the New York legislature wrote.
He called directly on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for some of the deficit-cutting methods pushed by his party’s right wing, such as tightening provisions on job requirements for federal benefits.
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“If anything, the actions of the MAGA House Republicans have increased the likelihood of default. It locks the House in an unacceptable and extreme position that pulls us even further apart,” Schumer said. “Had Speaker McCarthy been a serious negotiator in good faith, he would not have let extremists take him hostage and steer this debate in the wrong direction.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters just after the House Republican majority narrowly passed a sweeping debt ceiling package, at the Capitol, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Schumer later added, “We can’t make progress as long as the Republicans threaten our country with default.”
While many GOP lawmakers have made it clear they believe the way forward is a negotiation between Biden and McCarthy, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., pointed out during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that the Burden of proof was on Schumer to deal with the bill in the Senate. He said the veteran Democrat had “no ideas of his own” to bring to the table.
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President Joe Biden has threatened to veto the Republicans’ debt limit bill if it reaches his desk. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“To say it’s dead on arrival in the Senate if you’ve retaliated (Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va.) suggesting support for this kind of approach, I don’t think that’s entirely accurate,” Emmer said. “We made it. You now have the solution that is good for all of America and Americans. If you don’t have any ideas, pass it along. If you don’t like something, if you have any ideas of your own, our speaker is more than willing, I’m sure to listen to that.”
Elizabeth Elkind is a political reporter for Fox News Digital.
