RSC chairman lays out seven demands ahead of debt-ceiling talks
Juliegrace Brufke Virginia Aabram
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House Republicans laid out their demands for authorizing an increase of the debt ceiling in the Republican Study Committee meeting Wednesday ahead of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) meeting with President Joe Biden.
The points all have to do with cutting the budget before allowing the United States to borrow more money. The GOP is on a warpath with the Democratic-controlled White House and Senate, which both want a clean increase to the debt limit after the Treasury Department announced the country could begin to default on payments in early June.
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“As we talked about in the RSC, we need to look at pro-growth policies in this discussion of how we returned to a more fiscally sane nation,” RSC Chairman Kevin Hern (R-OK) told the Washington Examiner.
The RSC is the largest coalition of House Republicans and is a steady voice for fiscal conservatism. Hern said he made McCarthy aware of the committee’s ideas as he prepares to meet with Biden Wednesday afternoon.
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The seven demands are quoted below:
Reverse recent increases in overall discretionary spending and institute statutory limitations on annual discretionary spending levels. Enact a package of inflation-busting reforms to increase domestic energy capacity and reduce associated regulatory and permitting barriers. Fight inflation and the onset of a Democrat-induced recession by ending the national COVID-19 emergency, increasing workforce participation, advancing targeted, paid-for, pro-growth tax policies, and countering overregulation with common-sense guardrails like the REINS Act. Ensure an increase in the debt ceiling is accompanied by commensurate spending reductions, including through recissions of the Democrats’ recent excessive spending. Eliminate wasteful spending on duplicative programs, examine ways to fight waste, fraud and abuse, and transition non-entitlement mandatory programs to the discretionary side of the budget. Establish a long-term fiscal control focused on reducing spending to restrain the growth of our federal debt as a percentage of the nation’s economy. Codify procedures to ensure the federal government honors certain critical obligations, such as federal debt payments, national security and veterans, Social Security, and Medicare.
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The White House said it doesn’t want to negotiate with McCarthy over the debt limit and expects a clean increase. Congressional Democrats accused House Republicans of “brinkmanship” and have demanded to see what spending they want to cut. McCarthy has said he won’t cut funding from entitlement programs or the defense budget.