House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is confident House Republicans will pass a bill to stave off a debt-limit crisis, while accusing President Biden and the Senate of “ignoring” a rapidly approaching crisis if negotiations do not resume.
The speaker gave a speech earlier Monday to Wall Street traders, CEOs and other financial leaders to press for debt-ceiling negotiations with the Biden administration, which has pulled out of the process over opposition to GOP-proposed spending cuts.
McCarthy, Calif., spoke with DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview off the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading floor about the feasibility of his proposal.
When asked directly if he had the votes in his narrow 222-213 majority in the GOP to pass a package that would raise the debt limit through 2024, McCarthy replied, “Yes.”
“We’ve been talking about it, and it all comes together,” the spokesperson continued. “And we see that Republicans are willing to work where the president really doesn’t want to be involved.”
McCarthy outlined a potential package that would be voted on in “weeks” during his remarks.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is confident that House Republicans will pass a bill to stave off the debt limits crisis
The speaker insisted that the point of his NYSE speech was to “inform” Wall Street of what was really going on in Washington, DC.
McCarthy: “In the coming weeks, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill to raise the debt ceiling into next year, save taxpayers trillions of dollars, make us less dependent on China, and curb our high inflation — all without compromising Social Security and Medicare.” He said.
The spokesman insisted that the point of his NYSE speech, which made a reference to former President Ronald Reagan’s 1985 speech on the economy, was to “inform” Wall Street of what was really happening in Washington, D.C. over negotiations — which he hadn’t moved forward in months.
Well, that was just to let them know that the boss has ignored this for 75 days. I think it’s especially important as we go through this challenge that they know exactly what’s going on,” he told DailyMail.com.
McCarthy continued, “I believe in transparency and just being open and presenting the facts and that’s what it’s about today.” “I don’t think it will be the last time I give (Wall Street) an update on where we are now and where we are going.”
The White House backtracked from the speaker’s tactic, saying in a statement Monday morning that there is only one “responsible solution” to reduce debt, and that is to tackle it “immediately without brinkmanship.”
Spokesman Andrew Bates accused Republicans of “hostage-taking,” echoing Biden’s remarks from February that the GOP is taking “the economy hostage” by working to negotiate spending cuts.
The speaker criticized Biden during his speech, saying he had done nothing but leave the US debt as a “time bomb that will explode unless we take serious and responsible action.”
McCarthy also warned that even if the House was able to pass a bill, it would be up to the Democratic-run Senate to act, which it was unlikely to do.
“Well, we’re sending (the debt ceiling bill) to the Senate, and the Senate will have to act, the House won’t,” McCarthy told DailyMail.com.
“The sad part here is I haven’t seen the Senate act on anything. If they proposed doing a clean debt ceiling, why haven’t they passed it. They haven’t done anything so it seems to me that the debt ceiling is looming except that one chamber is working on it, while the House ignores it.” White and the Senate.
McCarthy spoke with Citadel securities trader Peter Giacchi on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Speaker McCarthy warned that even if the House was able to pass a bill, it would be up to the Senate to act, which it is unlikely to do.
During his speech, McCarthy issued some rare bipartisan praise for Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, who has called for negotiations between the administration and Congress to reach a quick debt ceiling deal.
“There are a number of senators that I’ve talked to about this, so I think there’s a lot of desire and will to get that done,” McCarthy said.
And any Senate aisle faces an uphill battle, with the Democratic caucus holding 51 seats to the Republicans’ 49.
As for the next priorities once the drama of the debt-limit deal subsides, McCarthy told DailyMail.com that the GOP will “secure our borders” and then look forward to the appropriation process.
