(New York) Raising the U.S. debt ceiling won’t happen “unconditionally,” that is, without cutting spending, the House of Representatives boss said on Monday. , Kevin McCarthy.
Also accusing US Democratic President Joe Biden of “reckless” spending, he thus affirms his refusal to give the Democratic administration a blank check in the budget negotiations.
“To tackle the debt, we need to come together, find common ground and cut spending,” McCarthy said during a speech to the New York Stock Exchange to outline his plan. on the subject.
“Let’s be clear, defaulting on debt is not an option,” the Republican said.
But “a future of higher taxes, higher interest rates, increased reliance on China, and an economy that doesn’t work for Americans” isn’t an option either, he said. he added.
Raising the debt ceiling is at the heart of a political debate that will become increasingly important in the weeks to come.
Temporary emergency measures have been taken to continue paying, but without an agreement in Congress to raise this ceiling, the United States will find itself in default, unable to meet its financial commitments, perhaps as early as this summer. .
Mr. McCarthy will vote in the House in the coming weeks on a text raising the debt ceiling but also proposing to return the amount of federal government spending to 2022 levels, and to limit their growth to 1% per year on the debt. next ten years.
“This will restore discipline to Washington, to budgeting, and help end the reckless spending that causes inflation,” he said.
The leader of the Republicans in the House “holds the good faith and the credit of the United States hostage, threatening our economy and the pensions of American workers”, reacted the spokesman of the White House Andrew Bates ahead of the speech of the Republican.
“There is only one responsible solution to the debt problem: settle it quickly, without showing off or taking hostages,” he also noted.
