Republican Study Committee chairman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma distributed a memo to members Tuesday calling out Democrats’ talking points ahead of expected negotiations between President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.
Biden invited McCarthy to meet at the White House on May 9 to discuss raising the debt limit, less than a month before Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expects the federal government to default. House Democrats began the discharge petition process on Tuesday, which would allow them to vote to raise the debt ceiling without the support of GOP leadership.
The White House and congressional Democrats have insisted that GOP’s Limit, Save, and Grow Act, which would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, contains several unacceptable and partisan budget cuts. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York announced Monday that the upper chamber would hold hearings to “expose” the GOP’s “hard-right ransom note.”
Hern pushed back on Democrats’ claims in the RSC memo, which the Daily Caller obtained. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: RSC Chairman Kevin Hern Calls For ‘Strong Debt Limit Bill’ By End Of April)
“Many of the proposals in this bill are based on longstanding bi–partisan policies,” the congressman wrote, citing discretionary spending caps, permitting reforms, and work requirements for welfare.
Read the memo here:
Debt Ceiling Memo by Michael Ginsberg on Scribd
The Limit, Save, and Grow Act would save an estimated $4.8 trillion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill would cut discretionary spending by $3.2 trillion and mandatory spending by $700 billion, while raising $400 billion in revenue.
As part of a deal between McCarthy and conservative holdouts during balloting for Speaker of the House, the Californian agreed that the Fiscal Year 2024 budget would be capped at 2022 levels. That promise has led Democrats to assert that the FY2024 budget will include cuts in key areas, including for the military. Some Republicans previously worried about such a scenario as well.
“The bill’s caps do not in any way require any particular discretionary program or account to be reduced. Instead, it would require Congress to do its job to debate and prioritize funding within the bill’s capped discretionary levels,” Hern responded in the memo. “Biden and Democrats are simply trying to distract from the fact there is an abundance of wasteful spending in the discretionary budget.”
