Speaker Kevin McCarthy surprised Washington when he united the raucous House Republican majority to pass a sweeping debt ceiling package.
by $1.5 trillion in exchange for steep spending reductions, an opening bid awaiting President Joe Biden’s response.This week’s stunning turnaround for the battle-hardened Republican speaker is only act one in what is expected to be awith Democrats to find agreement to lift the nation’s borrowing capacity and avert a potentially catastrophic debt default.
What has become apparent, though, is that Biden’s refusal to negotiate may not be a tenable position for the White House as the deadline nears for action. While the White House is taking the long view, preparing to slam the Republicans for what Biden calls “wacko” ideas that will harm Americans, at some point the president, and the Democratic-led Senate, will need to respond to the House.
The Republican-passed bill is stacked with party priorities, and imposes broad restrictions on federal government spending that are bound to be unpopular as they chip away at the programs and services Americans rely on in their daily lives. And the bill's bolstered work requirements on recipients of food stamps, health care and other government aid are expected to fall harshly on Americans who need aid the most. The demands are likely to be met with protests.
Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress want to simply raise the debt limit with no strings attached, a throwback to an earlier era. The package the Republicans approved, over unified Democratic opposition in the House, included many of the Freedom Caucus priorities. Rank-and-file Republicans know it has little chance of becoming law and was merely an opening salvo to push Biden to the negotiating table. Any compromise may be harder for McCarthy to sell.
For now, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is staying out of McCarthy's way, letting the new Republican speaker try his hand at uniting his conference and confronting the Democratic president where others have failed.
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