Default on the nation’s bills looms large come June. President Joe Biden, the Democrats, and the Republicans in Congress appear to be playing a game of chicken to see who jumps out first.
Republican leaders introduced 11th hour changes to their spending plan on Wednesday to get the votes of representatives from ethanol-producing states. This came after the Republican leadership had said it would not change the text. The GOP plan would raise the federal debt limit by $1.5 trillion from $31.4 trillion.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., flipped to support the legislation after a discussion with Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The Reworked Bill
The revised bill removes the repeal of tax subsidies for biofuels. Iowa Republicans and other Midwestern representatives revolted, but the rewrite removed their objections.
Republicans also agreed to quicken the timeline for when Medicaid recipients are supposed to obtain work. That was intended to win the vote of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz in the razor-thin 220 seat Republican majority.
The Republican plan would cut $4.8 trillion from projected deficits over the next decade.
Analysis by the Congressional Budget Office finds that the federal government could face a cumulative deficit of $20 trillion over the next decade. The federal deficit could double to over $2 trillion annually within a decade.
“It is a trite but true adage: when in a hole, stop digging. If the current debt limit crisis is giving lawmakers in both parties’ heartburn, the solution isn’t to renege on our obligations or hail token reductions in discretionary spending. Rather, our goal should be to reduce our dependence on debt in the first place,” the nonpartisan Concord Coalition said. “If lawmakers truly want to “stand up for seniors,” then they should act now to ensure Medicare and Social Security are solvent for all senior citizens—both today’s and tomorrow’s.”
Biden vs. GOP: Time is Running Out
Fifteen days remain in the House session before members leave to resolve the crisis with the Democratic-controlled Senate and Biden, who have vowed that the Republican plan to curtail the rate of the growth of the federal budget will be dead on arrival.
“Joe Biden has gone into hiding, trying to run out the clock and create a debt crisis demanding not that we address the spending problem that maxed out the credit card, but believe it or not Joe Biden is demanding that he get another card to go max out,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said.
The GOP proposal would cancel Biden’s student loan plan, which could add $300 billion to the deficit.
Biden condemned the Republican proposal, and it’s unclear if the president would meet with Republicans to make a deal.
“A 22% cut on the programs hardworking families rely on,” he said in a tweet Wednesday morning. “That’s the House MAGA plan.”
He also accused Republicans of letting rich people cheat on their taxes.
“MAGA proposal makes it easier for rich folks to cheat on their taxes – adding over $100 billion to our national debt,” Biden said on Twitter on Tuesday. “Oh, and they’ll pay for it by cutting Medicaid and food assistance for low-income people.”
“A default on our debt would produce an economic and financial catastrophe,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday. “Household payments on mortgages or to credit cards would rise, and American businesses would see credit markets deteriorate. It would be unlikely that the federal government would be able to issue payments to millions of people including military families, and seniors who rely on payments from Social Security.”
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John Rossomando was a senior analyst for Defense Policy and served as Senior Analyst for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award in 2008 for his reporting.
