Global Courant 2023-04-20 00:20:46
Speaker Kevin McCarthy berated President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in the House of Representatives on Wednesday for not doing anything about the debt ceiling when he announced the House Republicans’ plan to address it.
“While President Biden and Senate Democrats are wasting time, House Republicans are taking action,” McCarthy said on the House floor, accusing top Democrats of being “missing in action” on the issue.
“America is $31 trillion in debt. Washington is on the clock. But what are the Democrats doing? President Biden skips town to give a speech in Maryland instead of sitting down to address the debt ceiling” said McCarthy.
McCarthy has been asking for months for a meeting at the White House to discuss an austerity/debt deal, but Biden refuses to consider discussing the issues together, saying the debt line should be raised without conditions.
MCCONNELL WRITES BIDEN’S ‘EXTREME POSITION’ ON DEBT LIMIT IN FIRST SPEECH BACK AFTER REPIECE
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will hold a news conference at U.S. Capitols Statuary Hall on Thursday, January 12, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Republicans announced their own plan on Wednesday, the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023. McCarthy claimed it would “bring more than $4.5 trillion in savings to American taxpayers.”
In contrast, he accused Biden of “giving the US debt the southern border treatment — ignore it and hope it goes away.” And he accused Senate Democrats of playing along.
“Senator Schumer, he is simply missing in action. Instead of finding common ground with the House, Senator Schumer has the Senate vote on a non-binding resolution that praises and congratulates the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team for winning the men’s basketball championship of 2023,” McCarthy said. . That’s not the only thing Senator Schumer has done. Just last month, he approved March as Maine’s maple syrup month.
HOUSE WILL SOON VOTE TO LIMIT FEDERAL SPENDING AT 2022 LEVEL, RAISE ONE-YEAR DEBT LIMIT: MCCARTHY
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 18: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) arrives at a press conference following the Senate Democrat’s weekly policy luncheons at the U.S. Capitol Building on April 18, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Anna Geldmaker)
McCarthy said his bill would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion or until March 2024, whichever benchmark is reached first.
In addition, the legislation would increase employment requirements for federal benefits, reclaim billions of dollars in unused COVID-19 pandemic funds, and revoke Biden’s student loan forgiveness program and the $80 billion he allocated to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act.
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U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (L), Republican of California, and U.S. President Joe Biden attend the annual Friends of Ireland St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 17, 2023. (ANDREW CABALLERO/AFP via Getty)
In addition to covering non-discretionary spending at fiscal year 2022 levels, it limits new spending growth to just 1% per year for the next 10 years.
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The bill is expected to be voted on in the House of Representatives sometime next week, but it is almost certainly doomed to fail in the Senate, where Schumer has so far pushed for a “clean” increase in the debt ceiling.
“Now that we have introduced a clear plan for a responsible increase in the debt limit, they have no excuse and are refusing to negotiate,” McCarthy said Wednesday.
Elizabeth Elkind is a political reporter for Fox News Digital.
