Kevin McCarthy Has Plan to Raise Debt Ceiling, and Republicans Have Questions
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) , speaking this week at a GOP event, has a narrow majority to work with as he seeks a debt-ceiling deal. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images By Siobhan Hughes and Eric Bazail-Eimil April 18, 2023 1:03 pm ET WASHINGTON—House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) met behind closed doors with members of his conference Tuesday as he pushed to cobble together 218 votes from within his narrow House Republican majority for a plan to raise the debt ceiling before the government loses the ability to pay its bills. Republicans left the meeting saying that important details of the plan, which Mr. McCarthy sketched out one day earlier in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange, were still unclear. Among their questi
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) , speaking this week at a GOP event, has a narrow majority to work with as he seeks a debt-ceiling deal.
Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
WASHINGTON—House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) met behind closed doors with members of his conference Tuesday as he pushed to cobble together 218 votes from within his narrow House Republican majority for a plan to raise the debt ceiling before the government loses the ability to pay its bills.
Republicans left the meeting saying that important details of the plan, which Mr. McCarthy sketched out one day earlier in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange, were still unclear. Among their questions: whether the plan would increase the debt limit by a specific amount or suspend it until a particular date; which policy components would hitch a ride on the plan; and whether it would move through legislative committees or be devised by Republican leadership and brought directly to the House floor.
“We’ve seen some basic components, but we’ve got to see all of it, and that was the reason we’re having a discussion,” said Rep. Scott Perry (R., Pa.), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative bloc of roughly three dozen members that is known for using hardball tactics to achieve spending cuts.
President Biden and Democratic leaders have called on Republicans to pass a clean debt-ceiling bill without conditions, and are pushing their colleagues to hold the line. In the narrowly divided 222-213 House, that means that Mr. McCarthy can lose no more than four votes to preserve the majority needed to pass the bill.
The Treasury Department started relying on special accounting measures earlier this year to keep paying the government’s bills after running up against the roughly $31.4 trillion borrowing limit. How long those measures will last is uncertain, with forecasters expecting them to be exhausted some time between July and September.
Mr. McCarthy’s plan would pair a debt-ceiling increase with a reduction in discretionary spending to 2022 levels, and would then limit future increases to 1% a year. It would also claw back unspent Covid-19 aid and require Americans to work to receive certain federal benefits.
Republicans are at odds over the details of how to get out of the country’s fiscal predicament, and Mr. McCarthy and his advisers are setting themselves up for a period of intense horse trading before any final vote.
Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa.) said that he preferred to raise the debt ceiling by enough to take the issue off the table until after the 2024 elections, but that other members might feel differently.
Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
“The debt ceiling is going to be paid—it’s really a discussion on how long, and how much,” he said, adding that he wanted expiring research-and-development tax credits to be extended through any package.
Rep. Drew Ferguson (R., Ga.) said that he expected any plan would increase the debt limit by a certain dollar amount as opposed to extending it through a certain date. Rep. Nancy Mace (R., S.C.) said that she wanted the package to be stronger—and include tax breaks—to strengthen the House’s position when the bill heads to the Democratic-controlled Senate.
“There is some sentiment in the conference that we need a stronger package, because things are going to be taken out in the Senate,” Ms. Mace said. “You want to have as much leverage as possible.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tenn.) said that “I’m still a no,” but that he could “possibly” support the package “if some things are in there”—without specifying what was on his wish list.
Write to Siobhan Hughes at [email protected] and Eric Bazail-Eimil at [email protected]
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