House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's proposal on the debt ceiling has "set us in the right direction," even though it won't make headway in a Democrat-led Senate, said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
The House last week passed McCarthy's legislation to raise the debt ceiling through 2024 and slash government spending. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has harshly criticized it and offered no indication that he will put it up for a vote, and President Joe Biden is refusing to negotiate.
"Most Americans, even a majority of Democrats also, say that the United States needs to cut back on its federal spending, so we need to tie that to the debt ceiling, and that's what Kevin McCarthy has done," Ernst said Wednesday during an appearance on Newsmax's "National Report."
"Senate Republicans are linked in arms and backing up Speaker McCarthy. We know that this is a starting point for negotiations, and we hope that President Biden will come to the table and actually negotiate.
"This is the president that said he would bring people together, and yet for over two months refused to sit down and have a conversation with Speaker McCarthy, so I think we've got a little bit of negotiating to go yet, but I will just say that Senate Republicans are firmly behind Speaker McCarthy and our efforts to get the American fiscal house in order."
Ernst also slammed Biden's goal to make 50% of all new vehicles sold to be electric by 2030, calling the plan "unrealistic."
"In Iowa, we have very few charging stations," Ernst said. "This would require a massive overhaul of our nation's electrical grid. We are not ready to embark on a journey where every family has an electric vehicle in their garage.
"So, this is a big point of contention that we have with the Biden administration. They have these very lofty ambitious green goals, but they are not very pragmatic about the approach."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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