WASHINGTON \u2014 House Republicans unveiled legislation Wednesday to pair their favored spending cuts and energy and regulatory policies with a debt limit increase lasting through early next year.<\/p>\n
In a floor speech shortly before the bill text was released, Speaker Kevin McCarthy<\/a> said the measure would \u201cresponsibly raise the debt limit into next year and provide more than $4.5 trillion in savings to the American taxpayer.\u201d<\/p>\n The California Republican told reporters before his speech he is planning to bring the bill to the floor next week and is confident it will pass.<\/p>\n The measure would provide two options for lifting the debt limit \u2014 increasing the current $31.4 trillion statutory borrowing limit by $1.5 trillion or suspending it through March 31, 2024 \u2014 and specify the limit should be reinstated at whichever threshold is reached first.<\/p>\n The bill would cap topline fiscal 2024 discretionary spending at $1.47 trillion, which is the fiscal 2022 level, or $131 below the comparable level appropriated for the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t separate caps for defense and nondefense programs, but it\u2019s commonly understood among Republicans that the cuts will be concentrated among domestic and foreign aid accounts and that defense and veterans programs could see increases.<\/p>\n The measure would also cap spending for the remainder of the decade, allowing for 1 percent annual growth; appropriations wouldn\u2019t return to the $1.6 trillion fiscal 2023 enacted level for a decade under the plan.<\/p>\n After a push from conservatives, the bill would repeal unobligated IRS enforcement funding and a raft of clean energy tax credits from Democrats\u2019 2022 climate, tax and health law that leadership initially wanted to leave out<\/a>.<\/p>\n Repealing the climate credits is estimated to save several hundred billion dollars. McCarthy cited an analysis from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that said the cost of the credits could be as much as $1.2 trillion.<\/p>\n McCarthy said clawing back the enforcement funding would save taxpayers $70 billion, but the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that on net it would cost $114 billion over 10 years because anticipated tax receipts lost would be higher than the cost of the enforcement funding.<\/p>\n On Tuesday McCarthy told his conference he was concerned about sending the Senate a revenue measure that they could strip and load up with Democratic priorities. But after negotiations with his members he admitted he would likely have to add the tax credits repeal.<\/p>\n Other spending cuts in the bill would come from rescinding roughly $70 billion in unobligated pandemic aid and canceling President Joe Biden\u2019s student loan forgiveness plan, which is expected to save roughly $400 billion over 10 years.<\/p>\n Republicans would expand existing work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and institute new rules for Medicaid beneficiaries. \u201cOur plan ensures adults without dependents earn a paycheck and learn new skills,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n Supporters say the new benefit requirements would help shore up the solvency of Social Security and Medicare by pushing more people into the labor force, whose income will be taxed. \u201cWe will also protect and preserve Medicare and Social Security because more people will be paying into it,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n The package will include much of a recently passed House energy bill and a measure to require congressional authorization for major administration regulatory initiatives. McCarthy described the latter as an effort to \u201cprevent Biden\u2019s executive orders to spend money outside the normal process.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans have not yet secured the 218 votes they\u2019ll need to pass the bill without Democratic support, but leaders are confident they\u2019ll get enough members on board.<\/p>\n The measure is meant to pressure Biden and congressional Democrats, who have insisted on a clean debt limit measure free of policy conditions, to come to the negotiating table and compromise.<\/p>\n \u201cNow that we\u2019ve introduced a clear plan for a responsible debt limit increase, they have no excuse to refuse to negotiate,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n McCarthy conveniently planned his speech to overlap with remarks Biden delivered in Maryland Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n Biden blasted McCarthy\u2019s proposed spending cuts, saying they would hit the working class the hardest, and said Republicans should not threaten a debt limit breach if they don\u2019t get what they want.<\/p>\n \u201cFolks, that\u2019s the MAGA economic agenda: spending cuts for working and middle class folks, Americans, and tax cuts for those at the top of the pile,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about fiscal discipline, it\u2019s about cutting benefits for folks they don\u2019t seem to care much about.\u201d<\/p>\n The president also reiterated his long-standing call for Republicans to release their budget to better detail what spending programs they intend to cut, \u201cwhat tax giveaways [they] plan to extend to the super wealthy, what it means for the deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier Wednesday the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus released its own debt limit framework. The group\u2019s plan is designed to show a middle ground between Democrats\u2019 preference for a clean bill and Republicans\u2019 desire for deep spending cuts that could pass through both chambers and become law. They say it\u2019s just a backup plan, in case Biden and congressional leaders can\u2019t reach agreement on their own.<\/p>\n The four-part Problem Solvers proposal, endorsed by a supermajority of the group\u2019s 64 members, calls for suspending the debt limit initially through the end of this year to allow lawmakers time to complete the fiscal 2024 budget and appropriations process.<\/p>\n In the interim, the proposal calls for creating an external fiscal commission, modeled after the base realignment and closure, or BRAC, commission lawmakers set up to evaluate military bases. The fiscal commission would be charged with recommending measures to stabilize long-term deficits and debt by the end of 2024, and Congress provided with expedited authority to act on the recommendations by Feb. 28, 2025.<\/p>\n Under the plan, if Congress both sets up the fiscal commission and adopts controls to reduce the deficit through the fiscal 2024 budget and appropriations process, then the temporary debt limit suspension would automatically convert to a debt limit increase, \u201cthe amount of which will be guided by the established interim deficit stabilization controls.\u201d<\/p>\n The Problem Solvers do not specify what the controls they are seeking but said the amount should be enough to increase the debt limit through February 2025, to align with implementation of the fiscal commission\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair Brian Fitzpatrick<\/a>, R-Pa., said his group\u2019s framework is much more likely to become law than the GOP bill, which he hadn\u2019t yet reviewed in detail to determine whether he would support it.<\/p>\n He said he\u2019s more comfortable with the GOP bill including elements he might not otherwise support because it isn\u2019t a final product. \u201cThis should be viewed as an initial volley and a conversation starter,\u201d Fitzpatrick said.<\/p>\n The Problem Solvers presented their framework to centrist senators on Wednesday morning, Fitzpatrick said.<\/p>\n Sen. Susan Collins<\/a>, R-Maine, said she participated in a Zoom call on the proposal but she hasn\u2019t reviewed the plan in detail enough yet to take a position on it.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m glad they\u2019re working on it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Collins added now that House Republicans have laid out their plan Biden \u201chas run out of excuses\u201d for not negotiating.<\/p>\n Sen. Joe Manchin<\/a> III, D-W.Va., who has been more open than other Democrats to a bipartisan solution, was spotted leaving McCarthy\u2019s office Wednesday afternoon. He declined to say whether he was talking to the speaker about the debt limit.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just passing through,\u201d Manchin said.<\/p>\n Aidan Quigley and Laura Weiss contributed to this report.<\/em> <\/p>\n The post Debt limit bill in hand, McCarthy eyes vote next week<\/a> appeared first on Roll Call<\/a>.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\nProblem Solvers plan<\/h3>\n