McCarthy says he ‘cannot imagine’ Republicans siding with Biden on debt ceiling
Jack Birle
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) says he “cannot imagine” members of the GOP House conference going along with President Joe Biden‘s “reckless spending” amid the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.
McCarthy acknowledged he has a narrow majority to work with to get a debt ceiling deal passed but said he has “sat down for months” to get input from everybody, while speaking on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.
BIDEN GOES TO WAR WITH MCCARTHY OVER THE DEBT CEILING
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“We do have a very small majority, only five seats, one of the smallest we’ve ever had, but I cannot imagine someone in our conference that would want to go along with Biden’s reckless spending. This is responsible, this is something we have sat down for months that everybody’s had input in,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy also said that the deal will not give everyone what they want but that it is fiscally responsible and gets the country “on the right path.”
“It’s not where everybody gets 100% of what they want, but when we send this to the Senate, we’re showing that, yes, we’re able to raise the debt ceiling into the next year, but what we’re doing is we’re being responsible fiscally and bringing our house back in order. It doesn’t solve all of our problems, but it gets us on the right path, and this gets us to the negotiating table just as government and America expects us to do,” he added.
Four House Republicans may derail McCarthy’s debt ceiling plan, with most expressing concern over raising the debt ceiling. McCarthy can only lose so many votes, meaning that if he does not have a majority in his conference, a Democratic plan could pass through with some support from centrist Republicans.
McCarthy also said a vote will be held this week, and he expects it to pass and go to the Senate. He also called out Biden for being unwilling to negotiate.
“We will hold a vote this week, we will pass it, and we will send it to the Senate, and for more than 80 days where the president has ignored us, called people names for things he even voted for himself makes no sense or logic to it. I think as president and the leader of the free world, this is one of the problems we have challenging around this country, around the world. He needs to show leadership and come to the negotiating table instead of put us in default. This is risky, what he’s doing. He’s threatening the markets,” McCarthy said.
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McCarthy has proposed raising the debt ceiling by either $1.5 trillion or until March, whichever happens first, and returning spending to fiscal year 2022 levels, along with other proposed stipulations. Some of the other proposed items include repealing the Inflation Reduction Act’s IRS and green tax credit provisions, passing the House GOP’s Lower Energy Costs Act, and ending Biden’s student loan forgiveness programs.
The White House has said the House should raise the debt ceiling with no strings attached, while saying they do not wish to negotiate with the House. The ongoing battle between the House GOP and Biden come as the U.S. is set to default on its debt obligations in the summer.