GOP: A Responsible Debt Ceiling Increase
Speaker Kevin McCarthy delivered remarks on the House floor to announce the introduction of the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, the House Republican plan to responsibly raise the debt ceiling.
McCarthy was Tuesday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”. Here are his words:
“The American people have elected a divided government. And our government is designed to find compromise.
That’s why the House, the Senate, and the White House should be negotiating a responsible debt limit increase right now.
If you gave your child a credit card and they kept maxing out the limit, you wouldn’t blindly raise the limit.
You’d change their behavior.
The same is true with our national debt.
We need to lower inflation, reduce our dependence on China, and lift Americans out of poverty.
America is $31 trillion in debt and Washington is on the clock.
But what are Democrats doing?
President Biden is skipping town to deliver a speech in Maryland rather than sitting down to address the debt ceiling.
He’s giving America’s debt the southern border treatment: ignore it and hope it goes away.
In fact, he’s been avoiding this issue for 77 days and counting.
Senator Schumer is also missing in action.
Rather than find common ground with the House, Senator Schumer is having the Senate vote on a non-binding resolution commending and congratulating the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team for winning the 2023 Men’s Basketball Championship.
Last month, he approved March as ‘Maine’s Maple Syrup Month.’
Talk about taking on the big issues. I wonder what he’ll honor in May.
While President Biden and Senate Democrats waste time, House Republicans are taking action.
Today, I’m proud to announce that we are introducing the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023.
This responsible legislation, which is led by our Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington, would responsibly raise the debt limit into next year and provide more than $4.5 trillion in savings to American taxpayers.
Here’s how.
First – we limit government spending.
Our plan would return discretionary spending to pre-inflationary, Fiscal Year 2022 levels and then limit the growth of spending to 1 percent per year.
These are the same levels we had just four months ago. I didn’t hear a single Democrat complain about that level of spending.
These spending limits are not draconian, they’re responsible. Federal spending exploded in the past two years by 17 percent. And that doesn’t include trillions in COVID-era spending.
By limiting government spending, we will reduce inflation and restore fiscal discipline in Washington.
If Washington wants to spend more, it will have to come together to find savings elsewhere – just like every household in America does.
Second – we save taxpayers money.
The pandemic is over.
House Republicans already passed a bill to officially end the pandemic emergency, and President Biden signed it into law last week.
Our bill would claw back billions of dollars in unspent COVID money that has sat for 2 years.
The American people are tired of politicians who use COVID as an excuse for more extreme, inflationary spending.
If the money was authorized to fight the pandemic but was not spent during the pandemic, it should not be spent after the pandemic is over.
Our proposal also repeals Biden’s army of 87,000 IRS agents. That will save taxpayers $70 billion and protect families and small businesses from a weaponized IRS.
It would end the green giveaways for companies that distort the market and waste taxpayer money. Goldman Sachs says the savings from ending these green giveaways are as much as $1.2 trillion.
And we would prohibit President Biden’s student loan giveaway for the wealthy. That will protect the 87 percent of adults without student loans from paying for the loans of the 13 percent who do.
Finally – we will grow the economy so we are less dependent on China.
Our proposal would restore American energy leadership, make it easier to build things in America, make us less dependent on China, and bring jobs back to America.
It would also help lift millions of Americans out of poverty. Right now, there are more job openings than people looking for work, in part because the Biden administration has weakened some of the very work requirements that then-Senator Biden previously supported.
Our plan ensures adults without dependents earn a paycheck and learn new skills. By restoring these common sense measures, we can help more Americans earn a paycheck, learn new skills, reduce childhood poverty, and rebuild the workforce.
It will also protect and preserve Medicare and Social Security because more people will be paying into it.
And we would prevent President Biden’s executive overreach to spend money outside of the normal process, which President Biden has abused to the tune of $1.5 trillion in unilateral executive actions.
We should welcome and celebrate the benefits of a strong, growing economy.
For with a strong, growing economy, we will no longer be dependent upon China, we will no longer be victims to inflation, and we can leave a better future for our kids and grandkids.
House Republicans are taking action to lift the debt limit, limit government spending, save taxpayers money, and grow the economy.
President Biden and Senator Schumer have no right to play politics with the debt ceiling. Their extreme position risks provoking the very crisis they claim to want to avoid.
They need to sit down, negotiate, and address this crisis.
Now that we’ve introduced a clear plan for a responsible debt limit increase, they have no excuse to refuse to negotiate.
We owe it to the American people to use this moment in history to deliver the future they want, need, and deserve.
House Republicans have a plan. The Senate does not. And the President is ignoring the debt crisis.
President Biden has a choice: come to the table and stop playing partisan political games or cover his ears, refuse to negotiate, and risk bumbling his way into the first default in our nation’s history.
I urge all my colleagues to support this plan to get our nation back on track.”
The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
