Democrats Blame ‘Extreme’ Republicans for Debt Limit Deadlock as GOP Demands Accountability

A sign at a bus shelter shows the national debt in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2023. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

With debt limit talks running down to the wire in Washington, the finger-pointing continued May 23 on Capitol Hill as to who will be responsible if the United States defaults on its debt for the first time in history.

For House Democrats, the answer is an “extreme” faction of House Republicans.

“Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy is beholden to the most extreme members of his conference,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) told reporters at a news conference. “Last week, we saw proof of that.”

Aguilar noted that Republicans briefly paused negotiations late last week after the House Freedom Caucus released a May 18 statement calling for “no further discussion” on the debt ceiling until Senate Democrats have passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act, which House Republicans passed last month.

“Since then, they’ve added new, extreme demands to their ransom list, including provisions of the partisan Child Deportation Act, which passed without a single Democratic vote,” Aguilar continued, holding that McCarthy’s position of requiring spending cuts to raise the debt limit was “simply untenable.”

“House Democrats are not going to sign on to devastating cuts for teachers, food assistance, or Medicaid,” he said. “Speaker McCarthy needs to get serious before he sends the country spiraling into a recession.”

‘Somebody’s Got to Pay’

According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the United States could default on its debt as soon as June 1 if the federal borrowing cap—currently set at $31.4 trillion—is not raised.

At the May 23 news conference, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) stressed that default would have lasting consequences for American citizens.

“A default is permanent,” he said. “We can’t reverse it. Once it happens, companies and businesses and banks and other countries will know we defaulted once on our debt, and that in fact, the validity of our public debt can be questioned. And that is going to have permanent ramifications for the American people and their children and their grandchildren.”

But while Democrats have focused on the dangers of default, the GOP has emphasized that there are also risks in Congress kicking the fiscal accountability can down the road.

“At some point in time, somebody’s got to pay these bills, and Washington can’t keep spending money it doesn’t have,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said at his party’s weekly leadership news conference on May 23. “We’re at the table saying, ‘We’ve got to get control over spending.’”

Scalise touted Republicans’ Limit, Save, Grow Act as a reasonable and responsible approach to the nation’s debt crisis with provisions to limit future spending and grow the U.S. economy.

Noting the bill’s institution of stricter work requirements for food stamps and other federal programs, he suggested: “Instead of paying $140 billion to pay able-bodied adults with no dependents to sit at home, how about you get them back into the workforce? Then they’d be paying into Social Security—that would actually strengthen Social Security.”

And while the House Democrats charged on May 23 that their Republican colleagues were holding up the process, Scalise also noted that, thus far, his party has been the only one to put forward and pass a plan.

“[Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer’s really good at trying to criticize other people’s ideas,” he said. “I’ve yet to see Chuck Schumer’s idea that can pass his chamber.”

Adding that a balanced budget would help to curtail the nation’s increasing debt, Scalise said, “It’s time that Washington starts confronting the realities of out-of-control spending.”