WASHINGTON \u2014 Republicans, newly empowered with a House majority, are demanding spending cuts<\/a> as a price for lifting the debt ceiling<\/a> and averting a catastrophic default<\/a> on U.S. debt.<\/p>\n But they\u2019re struggling to identify what to cut, complicating Speaker Kevin McCarthy\u2019s task of passing a bill with his narrow majority.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s gotta be cuts in spending. That has to happen,\u201d said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., an ally of McCarthy, R-Calif., and the far right.<\/p>\n But she declined to get specific when she was asked what should be cut.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t really formulated an exact list,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Republicans are divided over whether Medicare and Social Security spending should be on the chopping block. They\u2019re split over whether military funding should be on the table. They\u2019re firmly opposed to new tax revenues to reduce the debt. They say they\u2019re willing to cut domestic non-defense spending, but that\u2019s a limited slice of the budget pie that wouldn’t fulfill many conservatives\u2019 demands to balance the budget.<\/p>\n The looming June 5 deadline<\/a> set by the Treasury Department presents a potentially career-defining challenge for McCarthy, who must balance a series of competing interests in his slim House majority with the need to ultimately pass a bill through the Democratic-led Senate and gain President Joe Biden\u2019s signature to avert dire economic consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first question is what can get out of there with 218 Republican votes,\u201d said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who served with McCarthy in the House. \u201cAnd that\u2019s Kevin\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll see what they can come up with. The burden of governing \u2014 the weight of that burden is starting to be felt by people over there,\u201d Cramer said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, we\u2019d rather have our fingerprint on a success than failure. That\u2019s my hope. And I think Kevin should be given a lot of time and room to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Failure to act in time could mean a stock market crash and a recession, a weaker dollar and higher interest rates and a government forced to make grueling choices, like whether to pay creditors or fund the Defense Department and send out Social Security checks.<\/p>\n House GOP hard-liners, including those who withheld their votes to make McCarthy speaker until they won a series of concessions and promises<\/a>, are demanding fiscal discipline in the abstract.<\/p>\n \u201cI have said since I first ran that I would not vote for a debt ceiling increase apart from the cuts in spending that would put us on a path to fiscal responsibility,\u201d said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., who declined to elaborate on what specifically that would look like.<\/p>\n Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who landed a seat on the powerful Rules Committee, said he wants to see \u201ca downward trajectory\u201d in long-term spending as part of any increase in the debt ceiling.<\/p>\n Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., another of the 20 initial McCarthy holdouts, said a debt limit bill should have an amendment to balance the budget over 10 years to win her vote.<\/p>\n Luna said she wants to do it without tax increases or Social Security or Medicare cuts. \u201cWhere there\u2019s a will, there\u2019s a way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Experts say that if those programs, as well as Pentagon spending \u2014 a sacred cow for many Republicans \u2014 are untouched, it becomes practically impossible to balance the budget in a decade.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you exempted defense, veterans, Social Security and Medicare spending, you\u2019d have to cut everything else by 85%,\u201d said Marc Goldwein, an expert at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank that advocates for reducing red ink. \u201cIt\u2019s possible as a mathematical proposition. But the question is: Is it possible as a policy proposition? And the answer is no.\u201d<\/p>\n McCarthy hasn\u2019t offered a plan other than to insist on a negotiation with Biden to cut \u201cwasteful spending.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I have asked for is to sit down, let\u2019s find common ground, and let\u2019s eliminate the wasteful spending to protect the hard-working taxpayers and to protect the future of America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The White House has vowed that Biden won\u2019t grant concessions on the debt limit and that paying the country\u2019s bills is non-negotiable. That position has the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who said Democrats have no intention of engaging until McCarthy shows what specifically can pass the House.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil Speaker McCarthy has a plan \u2014 and a plan that can pass in the House with his Republican support \u2014 his going to the White House is like going with no cards in his hand,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cShow your own caucus the plan and see if you have the votes to pass it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a plan. Pass the debt ceiling without hostage-taking, without any brinkmanship,\u201d he told reporters Wednesday.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-760x428,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2023_01\/mcconnell_ceiling-bhbika.jpg\"\/)
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