Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Sunday the House would vote on his spending and debt bill this week, and invited President Joe Biden to discuss the debt ceiling with him.
McCarthy proposed a plan last week combining $4.5 trillion in spending cutbacks with a $1.5 trillion rise in the US debt limit of $31.4 trillion.
The idea is certain to be rejected by Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate, but McCarthy has dubbed it a starting point for negotiations between the two parties in the coming weeks. Failure to raise the debt ceiling would result in the United States defaulting on its financial obligations, causing the global economy to tremble.
Financial markets are already concerned about the deadlock, with the cost of insuring exposure to US debt reaching a decade-high and financial analysts raising concerns about the increased danger of default.
Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House but McCarthy said he was confident of securing enough votes to pass his bill in the chamber.
“I cannot imagine someone in our conference that would want to go along with Biden’s reckless spending,” McCarthy told Fox News in an interview on Sunday.
“Like every other household in America – if Washington wants to spend more, it needs to save more somewhere else,” McCarthy added in a tweet on Sunday. “This isn’t controversial – it’s common sense. I invite the President to get serious and join Republicans at the table.”
Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Dick Durbin on Sunday also urged negotiations between Biden and McCarthy but said McCarthy’s proposal was more appropriate for budget debates than for the debt ceiling.
“The conversation should be underway, but it should be on the budget resolution, and on the appropriations process and entitlement reform if that’s part of the agenda. That should all be separate from the question of the debt ceiling. Don’t default, avoid default,” Durbin told NBC News.
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