The new Republican majority in the House is headed for a debt ceiling fight with President Joe Biden after the White House reiterated that the borrowing limit be increased “without conditions.”
The remarks by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, made Friday during the White House press briefing, put the president at odds with Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who pledged to oppose a clean increase in the debt limit in a deal to become speaker brokered with hard-line members of his conference.
The showdown comes just days into McCarthy’s speakership as Washington stares down the prospect of a debt default sometime in late spring or early summer if a deal cannot be reached.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a letter to congressional leaders on Friday warning them that the U.S. government will reach its borrowing limit next Thursday. As the Treasury prepares to implement “extraordinary measures” to buy lawmakers more time to negotiate, Biden appears to be drawing a battle line in a conflict whose stakes are the credit rating of the United States.
BIDEN GIRDS FOR CONGRESSIONAL GRIDLOCK AS GOP TAKES OVER HOUSE
“There’s going to be no negotiation over it. This is something that must be done,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday, adding, “We believe, when it comes to the debt limit, it has been done in a bipartisan way over the years and decades. And it should be done in a bipartisan way. And it should be done without conditions. That is important here.”
Democratic leaders are already pressuring Republicans to acquiesce, arguing the blame for any economic fallout would be theirs to shoulder.
“Addressing the debt limit is about meeting obligations the government has already made, ensuring vital payments to Social Security recipients are uninterrupted and continuing to support our veterans,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a joint statement Friday. “The debt limit was increased in a bipartisan way three times when Donald Trump was President, twice when Republicans had majorities in the House and Senate. This time should be no different.”
McCarthy on Thursday made clear that a clean increase of the debt ceiling won’t happen and that budget cuts must be part of any deal reached by Congress.
“Spending is out of control. There’s been no oversight, and we cannot continue around the same process. I had a very good conversation with the president when he called me. I told him I’d like to sit down with him early to work through these challenges,” McCarthy said at a press conference. “The House is different. The American public made a decision where they fired the Democrats and put us in charge.”
Since many Republicans oppose cutting money from the defense budget, the decreases would have to come from social programs and other domestic spending, a nonstarter for Democrats.
Washington has until early June or a bit later until the Treasury Department’s “extraordinary measures” are exhausted, at which point Congress will need to raise the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit to pay for obligations such as Social Security, Medicare, and military salaries.
“Failure to meet the government’s obligations would cause irreparable harm to the U.S. economy, the livelihoods of all Americans, and global financial stability,” Yellen said in her letter.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
During the contentious election for House speaker, which lasted a historic 15 ballots over four days, McCarthy made major concessions to about 20 conservative holdouts, among them the promise to set next year’s spending at fiscal 2022 levels — effectively a spending cut. The battle over 2024 spending could prove to be another showdown when government funding expires at the end of September.
McCarthy’s detractors have threatened to oust the speaker if he does not abide by the terms of their agreement, a distinct possibility after McCarthy agreed to another concession — allowing a single member to call for a vote of no confidence.
