WASHINGTON DC (WSAU) – A handful of prominent Republicans have officially spoken against the proposed bill to increase the nation’s debt ceiling.
According to a lengthy Twitter thread posted on Tuesday, Rep. Nancy Mace, who represents South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, stated that she was unable to support the bill because the spending reductions were insufficient and there are no borrowing restrictions.
Mace also slammed the bill for not eliminating the Biden-Harris Student Debt Relief Program, not cutting money for 87,000 IRS agent hires, and raising the job requirements for recipients of food stamp benefits by four years, from 50 to 54.
She is the most recent Republican in the House to oppose the measure. Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, it was reported that several members, including Reps. Chip Roy, Ken Buck, Bob Good, Ralph Norman, Andy Biggs, Lauren Boebert, Dan Bishop, and Matt Rosendale, were opposed to the legislation.
Why I will oppose the #DebtCeiling “deal.” It’s not a good deal. Some $4 Trillion in debt for – at best – a two year spending freeze and no serious substantive policy reforms. #NoDeal pic.twitter.com/C73fjSA2Fr
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) May 29, 2023
Wisconsin Congressmen Tom Tiffany and Derrick Van Orden have not yet signaled where they stand on the bill but statements from them and their offices are expected in the coming days.
Spending limitations currently in the bill could potentially be “overridden” if necessary, according to President Joe Biden’s deputy director of the National Economic Council, Bharat Ramamurti, who spoke on CNN on Tuesday.
“Look, the reality of these spending caps is they can always be overridden in the future if there is a really strong need for something,” Ramamurti said during the interview. “We saw it with Ukraine, where we got additional funding as necessary to support the efforts in Ukraine. We have seen it in the past when we needed additional money for natural disasters or whatever the case may be.”
A new CNN poll found that 60% of respondents supported raising the debt ceiling alongside spending cuts, and 24% say it should happen no matter what.
Meanwhile, Speaker Kevin McCarthy wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal about the agreement saying, “We rejected White House demands $5 trillion in new taxes and instead eliminated funding that would be wasted this year to hire Mr. Biden’s new army of Internal Revenue Service agents. Washington has a spending problem—not a revenue problem—and government should exist to serve you, not go after you.”
“All in all, the Fiscal Responsibility Act is truly worthy of the American people. It does what is responsible for our children, what is possible in a divided government, and what is required by our principles and promises. Only because of Republicans’ resolve did we achieve this transformative change to how Washington operates. We are 141 days into this Republican majority, and we’re only getting started,” McCarthy continued.
The House Rules Committee has received the bill, and it will meet to discuss it on Tuesday afternoon.
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