Freedom Caucus to propose major budget cut demands as debt ceiling fight continues
Cami Mondeaux
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Lawmakers in the conservative House Freedom Caucus are set to release more than 500 pages of proposed spending cuts they hope to use as leverage to negotiate slashing President Joe Biden’s budget in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) announced the proposed spending cuts on Tuesday, noting the Freedom Caucus plan would cut about $1 trillion in spending and extend the debt ceiling deadline through fiscal 2023. The plan would only make cuts to discretionary spending, he said, without touching Social Security or Medicare benefits.
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“These bills … would reflect additional billions and billions of dollars in savings, which would add to the overall net reduction in our national debt — or reduction in the acceleration of the national debt, that’s for sure,” Biggs said on Tuesday. “And our work isn’t done.”
As part of their proposed budget cuts, Freedom Caucus lawmakers would push to rescind unspent COVID-19 funding, cap nondefense spending at pre-pandemic levels, reduce funding to the Internal Revenue Service, and return the nation’s spending levels to what they were in 2019.
The proposal would also seek to cut out what they call “woke, weaponized, and wasteful spending,” such as Biden’s proposed spending on gender equity and climate-focused programs.
“This is an insult for the taxpayers. This is an insult,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC). “Do I expect anything out of this administration? No. I didn’t expect anything when he submitted his budget. And I was right. He didn’t give us anything. But it’s a new day in Congress and it’s a new day for the American people. What my friends in the Freedom Caucus are highlighting is not smoking mirrors, [they are] direct cuts that benefit the American people.”
If adopted, the Freedom Caucus plan would also extend the deadline to raise the debt limit past the current predictions — giving the United States an additional two or three months to negotiate a budget for fiscal 2024, the lawmakers said.
“The plan that we’ve proposed … would actually take it … out past the expiration of the fiscal year,” Biggs said.
Freedom Caucus lawmakers are set to file the budget cut proposals on the House floor sometime Tuesday afternoon, according to Biggs. The proposal comes just hours after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) sent a letter to Biden pressing him to schedule a second meeting to negotiate the debt ceiling crisis — the first major action by either party leader since they initially met in January.
McCarthy urged the president to schedule a meeting with him by the end of this week, accusing Biden of putting the economy “in jeopardy” by refusing to negotiate. Biden has repeatedly said he would meet with McCarthy to talk about it but not until Republicans release their proposed budget for fiscal 2024.
McCarthy initially met with Biden in January to begin negotiations on the debt ceiling, but that meeting ended without a binding agreement as the White House maintains it will not discuss federal spending until the borrowing limit is lifted. Meanwhile, McCarthy has drawn his own line, saying that spending cuts are required.
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Biden has also refused to meet for negotiations until House Republicans release their proposed budget, which GOP lawmakers say has been held back because Biden himself was delayed in releasing his own proposal. Republicans have until April 15 to present their proposed budget, although it’s not clear when lawmakers plan to release it.
The United States hit its debt ceiling on Jan. 19, raising fears of a default. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her agency would take “extraordinary measures” to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its obligations, but the department will only have a few months before those measures are exhausted.