McCarthy Introduces $1.5 Trillion Debt Bill; press vote

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unveiled a sweeping package Wednesday that would raise the nation’s debt limit by $1.5 trillion through next year, while imposing a long list of Republican priorities, including new spending limits, job requirements for government aid recipients, and other sure-to-be non-incumbents for the White House.

McCarthy announced that House Republicans were introducing their legislation just as President Joe Biden took the stage at a union hall in Maryland to warn of an impending fiscal crisis if Congress does not take action to raise the debt ceiling, now in 31 trillion dollars, to continue paying the nation’s bills.

The 320-page “Limit, Save, Grow” Act unleashed by House Republicans has almost no chance of becoming law, but McCarthy is using the legislation as a strategic move, a jumping-off point to lure Biden to the negotiations that the White House has, so until now, it has not wanted to overcome the debt crisis.

“President Biden is leaving town to give a speech in Maryland instead of sitting down to address the debt ceiling,” McCarthy, a Republican from California, said in a speech on the House floor.

The package was quickly embraced by mainstream Republicans, as McCarthy has worked hard to unite his often contentious majority. A House vote is expected next week, hoping to pressure Biden into responding. Democrats in the House and Senate will almost certainly object.

Among the highlights of the bill:

— It would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion through next year, putting the issue squarely in the middle of the upcoming presidential election.

— Cut spending to 2022 levels and impose a 1% cap on future federal spending over the next decade, with likely exceptions for some defense accounts. Recover unspent COVID-19 funds.

— Republicans want to rescind some of Biden’s top political gains, including his executive action that provided student loan relief to millions of college students, a Democratic Party priority.

— The House Republican measure would also roll back elements of Biden’s Cut Inflation Act, particularly provisions the White House and Democrats put in place to combat climate change, and stop money for the Internal Revenue Service that it was designed to carry out audits of possible tax traps.

Charging the bill are other Republican priorities, including his HR 1 marquee, a sweeping energy bill that aims to boost oil, gas and coal production while revising permitting regulations to facilitate such developments.

The package includes a long-sought Republican effort to impose stricter work requirements on government aid recipients, including people who rely on food stamps, Medicaid for health care and general cash assistance.

Missing from the bill are cuts for Medicare or Social Security programs used primarily by older Americans. Democrats had warned that Republicans wanted to dismantle those programs. It also avoids rescinding the $35 monthly insulin limit for Medicare beneficiaries and other provisions to lower prescription drug prices that Biden signed into law last year.

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