PanamaTimes

Sunday, Jul 06, 2025

House Republicans chart new strategy to pressure Biden, Democrats

House Republicans chart new strategy to pressure Biden, Democrats

U.S. House Republicans will try to agree on a plan to lift the federal $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and cut government spending when Congress returns this week, after being stymied for months by Democratic President Joe Biden's demands they do so without conditions.

House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in a Monday speech at the New York Stock Exchange will lay out the conditions Republicans want Democrats to agree to in exchange for movement on the debt ceiling.

He has offered few specific details ahead of the talk, but Republicans have proposed holding annual spending growth to 1% for a decade, reducing regulation and boosting energy production.

Members of McCarthy's sometimes-fractious caucus, who hold a narrow 222-213 majority, have yet to agree on actual legislation. Any proposal Republicans introduce would need to be negotiated with Biden's Democrats, who control the Senate, before it could become law.

The White House, which is leading the Democrats' approach to the debt ceiling, has dismissed the Republican proposals as unrealistic.

Nonpartisan forecasters have warned the federal government could face a historic default this summer if Congress fails to act. A default could cripple the U.S. and world economies and force a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, as occurred in a 2011 standoff over the debt.

But McCarthy's speech, which Republicans say is intended to draw Wall Street's support for negotiations on spending, could spark movement after months of inaction. Biden has insisted that Congress pass a "clean" debt hike without conditions, noting that it did so three times under his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump.

"At this point, I think there's no choice for Republicans and the speaker but to bring forward some type of proposal," Representative Tom Emmer, the No. 3 House Republican, told Reuters.

The prospective legislation, which conservatives hope to pass by the end of April, could lift the borrowing limit until May 2024, according to a source familiar with the matter. That would set the stage for another debt ceiling debate in the closing months of the 2024 presidential campaign.

But first, Republicans must agree on a proposal that can win the support of at least 218 of their 222 members.

"Getting us all on the same page is a challenge. But it's not impossible and I'm optimistic that we'll get there. This is an issue we've been talking about for some time," said Republican Representative Ben Cline.

Cline, a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, sits on both the House Budget and Appropriations Committees and is helping to craft a budget plan for the conservative Republican Study Committee, the biggest caucus in Congress.


RISKS


The White House has dismissed the proposals so far.

"Speaker McCarthy is adopting the extreme MAGA House Republican position: threatening our economic recovery, hardworking Americans' retirement, and catastrophic default in order to force devastating cuts," said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates.

House Republicans maintain that their proposals would win enough public support to force Biden and the Democrats into negotiations, just as the party's bill to overturn changes in the Washington, D.C., criminal code passed Congress last month, despite initial Democratic opposition.

Biden and McCarthy met at the White House in February to discuss the standoff, but they have not held further talks as the administration has called on House Republicans to release a budget proposal.

The White House in March unveiled its own budget proposal that it said would cut U.S. deficits by $3 trillion over the next 10 years. But with the House Budget Committee not expected to produce a spending plan anytime soon, the Republican focus has shifted to the debt ceiling plan.

Republican Representative Garret Graves, a top McCarthy adviser who has led debt ceiling talks within the Republican conference, said legislation could follow the outline set in a March 28 McCarthy letter to Biden.

"We're continuing to discuss both strategy and putting a little more meat on the bones or translating the speaker's letter into legislation," Graves said in an interview.

While McCarthy's letter contained few details, Republicans are considering proposal that could reset nondefense discretionary spending to fiscal 2022 levels, hold annual spending at 1% for a decade, reduce regulation, boost energy production and reset the debt ceiling to a ratio of debt to gross domestic product.


'FIVE FAMILIES'


The Republican conference is divided by ideological caucuses known internally as "the five families," a reference to the warring mafia clans of "The Godfather" movies.

The five families, who are expected to take up the plan early next week, run the gamut from members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, who have floated the idea of reaching a deal with Democrats to avoid default, to the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus, whose members insist on deep spending cuts and say Biden will be responsible for any default.

Some Republicans also favor the clean debt ceiling increase that Biden has demanded.

Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Brazilian Congress Rejects Lula's Proposed Tax Increase on Financial Transactions
Landslide in Bello, Colombia, Results in Multiple Casualties
Papa Johns pizza surge near the Pentagon tipped off social media before Trump's decisive Iran strike
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Recounts Escape
Coinbase CEO Warns Bitcoin Could Supplant US Dollar Amid Mounting National Debt
UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
Israeli Finance Minister Imposes Banking Penalties on Palestinians
U.S. Inflation Rises to 2.4% in May Amid Trade Tensions
Trump's Policies Prompt Decline in Chinese Student Enrollment in U.S.
Global Oceans Near Record Temperatures as CO₂ Levels Climb
Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal Covering Rare Earths
Smuggled U.S. Fuel Funds Mexican Cartels Amid Crackdown
Protests Erupt in Los Angeles with Symbolic Flag Burning
Trump Administration Issues New Travel Ban Targeting 12 Countries
Man Group Mandates Full-Time Office Return for Quantitative Analysts
JPMorgan Warns Analysts Against Accepting Future-Dated Job Offers
Builder.ai Faces Legal Scrutiny Amid Financial Misreporting Allegations
Japan Grapples with Rice Shortage Amid Soaring Prices
Goldman Sachs Reduces Risk Exposure Amid Market Volatility
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker to Return to AIA as Non-Executive Chair
Israel Confirms Arming Gaza Clan to Counter Hamas Influence
Judge Blocks Trump's Ban on International Students at Harvard
Trump Proposes Travel Ban on 'Uncontrolled' Countries
Panama Port Owner Balances US-China Pressures
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Eurozone Inflation Falls Below ECB Target to 1.9%
Call for a New Chapter in Globalisation Emerges
Blackstone and Rivals Diverge on Private Equity Strategy
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Denmark Increases Retirement Age to 70, Setting a European Precedent
Netanyahu Accuses Western Leaders of 'Emboldening Hamas'
Escalating Trade Tensions and Market Reactions
OnlyFans Reportedly in Talks for $8 Billion Sale
JBS Gains Shareholder Approval for U.S. Stock Listing
Booz Allen Hamilton to Cut 2,500 Jobs Amid Federal Spending Reductions
Trump Signs Executive Orders to Accelerate Nuclear Energy Development
Harvard Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration's International Student Ban
Nippon Steel Forms Partnership with U.S. Steel, Headquarters to Remain in Pittsburgh
Trump Expands Tariff Threats to Apple and Samsung Devices
Oracle and OpenAI Plan $40 Billion Nvidia Chip Purchase for AI Data Center
Trump Threatens 50% Tariff on EU Goods, Markets React
×