200 House Dems Demand 'Clean Debt Bill' in Letter to GOP

A letter from nearly 200 House Democrats to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is calling for a clean bill — "without any extraneous policies attached" — to raise the debt ceiling so Democrats' spending objectives can remain flowing.

The letter, backed by almost all House Democrats' signatures, was led by Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., ranking member of the House Budget Committee, joined by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and New Democrat Coalition Chair Rep. Ann Kuster, D-N.H.

"The three of us are proud to announce, along with nearly 200 of our House Democratic colleagues, we are releasing a letter calling on Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans to end their threat of default," Boyle said in a news conference Wednesday, announcing the letter.

"Now, before I go into the specifics, I want to address one thing: Republicans like to claim they are being fiscally responsible. But let's be clear, there never has been and never will be anything fiscally responsible about refusing to pay America's bills. Killing millions of jobs is not fiscally responsible, neither is knowingly unleashing a recession.

"So we Democrats stand united across the ideological spectrum of our caucus — from some of the most progressive members to some of the most moderate members and everything in between — to stand up and say, 'Let us actually do our work. Let us actually do the responsible thing and ensure that we pay our bills.'"

McCarthy pushed ahead Wednesday with plans for a swift vote on his sweeping debt ceiling package despite a veto threat from the White House after his Republicans made post-midnight concessions to round up support in their slim majority.

While President Joe Biden has threatened to veto the Republican bill — which would almost surely die in the Senate — McCarthy is challenging Biden with a GOP plan to kickstart negotiations and prevent a potentially catastrophic federal debt default this summer.

Spending and budgeting is under the House purview, and it is led by fiscally conservative Republicans, but the Senate and the White House have the final say and they are held by spendthrift Democrats.

Democrats in the House want a say in what the House GOP is intending to pass in its budget plans, including domestic spending cuts.

"Separate from the lifting of the debt ceiling, House Democrats have welcomed an open and productive debate through the normal budgetary process on approaches to address both federal spending and revenues that do not involve the threat of nonpayment of funds already appropriated by law," the letter reads in part.

"In that spirit, we welcome the prompt release of a House Republican budget as a starting point for bipartisan negotiations. We look forward to evaluating and responding to the House Republican Conference's approach."

House Republicans relenting to House Democrats desires would hand over budgetary authority that the Senate and White House already wield and would put McCarthy in a tenuous position with his fiscal conservatives that forced Wednesday morning's markups.

"Just recently, when Donald Trump was president, Congress voted three times to raise the debt ceiling, twice under Congressional Republican control and once under Congressional Democratic control," Boyle said.

"Those three increases in the debt ceiling included zero spending cuts, and Republicans had no problem whatsoever voting for them. So what they are doing today on the House floor with their DOA Act, the Default on America Act. Fortunately, that bill will be dead on arrival (DOA). And I'm quite confident not signed into law. That doesn't get us any closer to resolving the situation."

The House GOP bill sets federal discretionary spending at $1.47 trillion during the next fiscal year and allow it to increase only 1% annually from there, far below the rate of inflation in most years.

The cap on spending is the big-ticket item in the bill, accounting for about two-thirds of the $4.8 trillion in deficit reduction the Congressional Budget Office says would occur over 10 years if the bill is enacted.

The House GOP bill does not affect spending on Social Security and Medicare. Such spending, referred to as mandatory, accounts for about two-thirds of all federal spending.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.