Debt Showdown: GOP Pass Spending Cuts Package, Bill Sent To Democrat-Led Senate

(FamilyConservationPAC.com) – The House of Representatives enacted a package of legislation on Wednesday that would significantly cut federal spending while raising the debt ceiling through the start of next year, setting up a tense standoff with Democrats when the legislation moves to the Senate.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in a report released on Tuesday that the Limit, Save, Grow Act would reduce the deficit by $4.8 trillion over the next ten years.

The CBO report found that the debt limit plan would drastically cut spending growth between 2023 and 2033. The nonpartisan analysis agency found:

The Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 was approved by a vote of 217 to 215 without any Democratic support. Reps. Andy Biggs (R), Matt Gaetz (R), Tim Burchett (R), and Ken Buck (R) left their respective parties.

The bill’s passing is a success for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who promotes it as a negotiating tactic that will compel President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to meet with him to discuss spending reductions in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling.

McCarthy stated, “We cannot do as the president has done and just sit back and ignore the issue. We want to take a seat. We want to cooperate, and this measure gives us the capacity to do so by putting us in a position to bargain.”

The U.S. is on the verge of reaching its debt cap as early as this summer, prompting the bill. Suppose Congress and Biden do not take action to suspend or raise the country’s borrowing ceiling. In that case, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has issued an “economic catastrophe” warning.

In other words, they want to lift the debt ceiling without the expenditure cuts that House Republicans are pushing for. Biden and Schumer have pushed for a “clean” debt ceiling increase.

When asked about GOP complaints that the president has been “missing in action” on negotiations, Biden, who has threatened to veto the bill, mocked House Republicans hours before its passing.

Between chuckling and saying, “They haven’t sorted out the debt ceiling yet,” Biden remarked. “I’m happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended. That’s off the table.”

But now that the House GOP is staring Biden and Schumer down with a display of unity around a debt ceiling agreement, their positions are weakened by the passage of this bill, a significant victory for Republicans in the closely divided House.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), a member of the Republican leadership, told Breitbart News that “I think part of their strategy is that they were going to try to call our bluff. They didn’t think we could accomplish this, so doing it now is significant and symbolic.

The debt ceiling increase deal, which extends through the beginning of next year, is jam-packed with conservative demands.

This includes repealing recent IRS funding, specific climate-related provisions of the “Inflation Reduction Act,” blocking Biden’s student loan bailout, expanding work requirements for welfare recipients, and capping the growth of discretionary spending at one percent per year for ten years.”

However, McCarthy, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), and other leaders found it difficult to reach agreement on the plan.

Since February, Emmer had been whipping votes on it. Still, in the days before the vote, more than a dozen Republicans had expressed hesitations or outright objections to supporting the measure.

Among them were a group of Midwesterners concerned about the repeal of the biofuel tax credit, Gaetz and troubled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) objecting to the clause requiring welfare recipients to work, and Burchett dejected over leadership missing a meeting with him and the enormity of the nation’s debt ($31 trillion).

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the leader of the House Freedom Caucus, was ambiguous about the legislation up until the day of the vote, claiming after the bill was adopted.

“Although the law “isn’t perfect,” it is “a huge step,” according to Perry.

GOP leaders remained unwaveringly confident that the plan would pass despite disgruntled defectors and voting absences that threatened to thwart it.

Worried parties poured into and out of McCarthy’s office all week as the speaker tried to ensure he had the necessary votes.

Schumer, who has told his party that the bill will be defeated as soon as it reaches the Senate, has dubbed it the “Default on America Act” and claims that it requires “Americans to accept either a punch to the gut or a blow to the head.”

The majority leader has not indicated he would be open to working with House Republicans.

The law is “a ransom note to the American people, demanding that they accept the radical, right-wing agenda of the Republican Party or face a catastrophic default. Democrats won’t permit it,” according to Schumer.

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