Republican members of the House Budget Committee pledged to pay the nation’s bills but vowed not to give President Joe Biden an “unlimited line of credit.”
The latest volley in the war of words over increasing the nation’s debt ceiling came Feb. 8 as Republican committee members, led by Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) issued a statement of intent the day before the committee’s first meeting.
“We must ‘reverse the curse’ of deepening deficits and debt by addressing the underlying reason that we are having to raise the debt ceiling to begin with: uncontrolled federal spending.”
Also on Feb. 8, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that the nation’s budget deficit for the first four months of fiscal year 2023 had reached $459 billion, a 77 percent increase over the previous year.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is in negotiations with the president over increasing the debt ceiling, the maximum amount of debt the government is authorized to take on in order to pay its bills.
The two have pledged respectful cooperation but sparred over attaching conditions to increasing the debt ceiling.
McCarthy has said he seeks a “responsible” increase to the debt limit, accompanied by spending cuts. Biden has insisted that Congress pass an increase without pre-conditions on future spending.
The statement by Budget Committee Republicans echoes familiar GOP talking points: There will be no default, but there must be a reduction in future spending.
When the Budget Committee met on Feb. 9, Arrington and Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) pledged to work together productively while advocating their respective views.
Arrington painted a bleak picture of the nation’s financial state and called for a change in direction.
“We have an A-sized challenge with our current state of fiscal affairs in this country,” Arrington said. He said “runaway debt” and an “unsustainable debt trajectory” may be the greatest threat to the nation.
Boyle took a more hopeful view of the situation, comparing it to the early 1990s, when many predicted financial disaster based on the level of U.S. debt. Yet by the end of the decade, Boyle said, the debate had changed, thanks to good leadership and a strong economy.
“The debate was actually about whether or not the full deficit should be paid off, and what we were going to do with all these surpluses.”
Among its duties, the Budget Committee must develop an annual budget resolution for the House of Representatives, considering information provided by the CBO, the president, and other House committees.
