House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Monday issued a warning to Americans about the financial state of the country, saying the national debt poses a large threat to the United States.
“Americans are getting hammered by high prices. Today, nearly two thirds of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet,” McCarthy said at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Monday. “Meanwhile, China is infiltrating our culture, our farmland and our skies because they see us as weak. This is not sustainable.”
“But of all the dangers we face, the greatest threat to our future is our national debt,” he said.
Democrats and Republicans have for weeks been locked in a battle about the national debt, with Democrats and the White House pushing for Congress to increase the federal debt limit. President Joe Biden wants the cap raised without any preconditions. The new House Republican majority is seeking to secure spending cuts in exchange for a debt limit increase.
In late January, the Treasury Department said it planned to increase its borrowing during the first three months of 2023, even as the federal government is bumping up against a $31.4 trillion limit on its legal borrowing authority.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in a letter to congressional leaders earlier the same month, said the department had begun resorting to “extraordinary measures ” to avoid a federal government default. She said it’s “critical that Congress act in a timely manner” to raise or suspend the debt limit.
Yellen on Sunday said Congress must agree to raise the debt ceiling, saying not doing so “can't be negotiable.”
“America has paid all of its bills on time since 1789, and not to do so would produce an economic and financial catastrophe,” Yellen told George Stephanopoulos on ABC News’ “This Week.” “Every responsible member of Congress must agree to raise the debt ceiling. It's something that simply can't be negotiable.”
McCarthy on Monday said Republicans and Democrats “must commit to finding common ground on a responsible debt limit increase,” adding that cuts to Medicare and Social Security are “off the table.”
“Defaulting on our debt is not an option,” he said. “But neither is a future of higher taxes, higher interest rates and an economy that doesn't work for working Americans.”
Last week, McCarthy and President Joe Biden met face-to-face for more than an hour of highly anticipated budget talks. He emerged saying the meeting went better than expected: The two agreed to meet again, and the speaker said he expected to hear from Biden soon.
“No agreement, no promises except we will continue this conversation,” McCarthy told reporters outside the White House.
McCarthy on Monday said Republicans would “continue to sit down and negotiate” with Biden, adding the country “must move towards a balanced budget and insist on genuine accountability for every dollar we spend.”
McCarthy’s address came the day before Biden’s State of the Union address, where the president is expected to call on lawmakers to responsibly raise the debt limit and keep the government funded.
Speaking to reporters after his Monday speech, McCarthy said he hopes to hear Biden acknowledge "that runaway spending has brought us inflation, that Americans have gotten a pay cut based upon inflation and runaway spending of what [Democrats have] done."
"He said he still believes in a clean debt ceiling, but he's willing to negotiate the opposite" McCarthy added. "I don't care what politically he wants to say. But at the end of the day, there'll be no clean debt ceiling lifted here without reforms to put us on a path to a balance."