Speaking on the Senate floor on Thursday, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., did not mince words when describing the debt ceiling plan unveiled by House Republicans one day prior.

“With a default approaching, Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy yesterday capitulated to the MAGA right and rolled out a partisan wish list masquerading as legislation,” the New York Democrat said. “This MAGA wish list has no chance of moving forward in the Senate, and it doesn’t move us any closer than we were yesterday to avoiding default.”

What You Need To Know

  • Senate Democrats and the White House largely panned House Republicans' proposal to raise the debt ceiling, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer branding it "a partisan wish list masquerading as legislation" which "has no chance of moving forward" in the upper chamber

  • McCarthy’s proposal, dubbed the “Limit, Save, Grow Act,” would raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion into next year, while also rolling back spending levels to fiscal year 2022 levels, cap federal spending at 1% annually for the next decade, repeal parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ social spending, climate change and tax reform law, and rescind Biden’s student debt forgiveness executive action

  • President Biden and Democratic leaders on Wednesday called for a clean increase to the debt limit, while acquiescing that they can negotiate separately with Republicans on a budget

  • One key Senate Democrat applauded McCarthy for putting a bill on the floor to address the debt limit: West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who said that while he does not agree with what was in the California Republican's proposal, President Biden must come back to the negotiating table to address the looming crisis

“Speaker McCarthy’s wish list is an extreme step in the wrong direction,” Schumer added. “It heads us in the direction of default and time is running out.”

McCarthy’s proposal, dubbed the “Limit, Save, Grow Act,” would raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion into next year, while also rolling back spending levels to fiscal year 2022 levels, cap federal spending at 1% annually for the next decade, repeal parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ social spending, climate change and tax reform law, and rescind Biden’s student debt forgiveness executive action.

It also includes Republican priorities like tougher work requirements for recipients of federal aid, as well as a sweeping energy bill passed by the House GOP which would overhaul permitting rules and boost domestic production of oil, gas and coal. 

Speaker McCarthy is eyeing a vote next week, though it's unclear whether every member of his GOP conference is on board with the proposal, a risky proposition with such a narrow majority.

"If it was right now, I’d be a no," Tennessee GOP Rep. Tim Burchett told CNN on Thursday about the proposal, adding that he is "struggling" with the staggering amount of the country's debt.

The proposal has virtually no chance of passing the Democratic-led Senate, though Republicans are hoping the plan can push President Joe Biden back to the negotiating table.

In a statement Thursday morning, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the bill is a "blueprint to devastate hard-working American families."

"MAGA House Republicans are holding the American economy hostage in order to take a hatchet to programs Americans rely on every day to make ends meet," the Biden administration's top spokesperson said. "Every House Republican who votes for this bill is voting to cut education, veterans medical care, cancer research, meals on wheels, food safety, and law enforcement. To offshore American manufacturing and kill good-paying jobs. To take health care away from millions of Americans and threaten food assistance for hundreds of thousands of older people. To increase energy bills and raise taxes for hard-working families. To slash programs hard-working Americans depend on even as they protect wealthy tax cheats and continue to push tax giveaways for the wealthiest and big corporations."

In a speech Wednesday as McCarthy unveiled his plan, Biden blasted what he called the "wacko notions" of the House GOP conference.

"Folks, this is really dangerous," Biden warned Wednesday. "MAGA Republicans in Congress are threatening to default on the national debt, the debt that took 230 years to accumulate overall ... unless we do what they say, they're going to default unless I agree to all these wacko notions."

Other key Democrats echoed the sentiments of Biden and Schumer: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on Twitter that the GOP bill was "not a serious plan," and Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz added: "If their ideas were popular they wouldn’t have to threaten the global economy in order to enact them."

But one key Senate Democrat applauded McCarthy for putting a bill on the floor to address the debt limit: West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who said that while he does not agree with what was in the California Republican's proposal, President Biden must come back to the negotiating table to address the looming crisis.

"Our elected leaders must stop with the political games, work together and negotiate a compromise," Manchin said in a statement Thursday. "Instead, it has been more than 78 days since President Biden last met with Speaker McCarthy. This signals a deficiency of leadership, and it must change. The fact is we are long past time for our elected leaders to sit down and discuss how to solve this impending debt ceiling crisis."

"I applaud Speaker McCarthy for putting forward a proposal that would prevent default and rein in federal spending," the West Virginia moderate added. "While I do not agree with everything proposed, the fact of the matter is that it is the only bill actually moving through Congress that would prevent default. For the sake of the country, I urge President Biden to come to the table, propose a plan for real and substantive spending cuts and deficit reduction, and negotiate now. Failing to do so may score political points with the extremes of the Democratic Party, but make no mistake, it will be the American people – and our nation – who will pay the ultimate price if partisan politics continues to define our politics and policies."

President Biden and Democratic leaders on Wednesday called for a clean increase to the debt limit, while acquiescing that they can negotiate separately with Republicans on a budget.

"As soon as the speaker puts forward a detailed budget that has the support of his conference, that he can muster the votes for, the president's happy to sit down," White House communications director Ben LaBolt said in an interview with Spectrum News on Wednesday. "But what he won't negotiate over is default."