Kevin McCarthy made it clear that if Republicans win back the House they plan to hold the debt ceiling hostage unless they get cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
McCarthy was interviewed by Punchbowl News:
McCarthy signaled that Republicans would again hold the debt limit up for policy changes.
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Here’s McCarthy on the debt limit:
“You can’t just continue down the path to keep spending and adding to the debt. And if people want to make a debt ceiling [for a longer period of time], just like anything else, there comes a point in time where, okay, we’ll provide you more money, but you got to change your current behavior. We’re not just going to keep lifting your credit card limit, right? And we should seriously sit together and [figure out] where can we eliminate some waste? Where can we make the economy grow stronger?”
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We asked McCarthy if he intended to try to reform entitlements as part of the debt ceiling debate. McCarthy said he wouldn’t “predetermine” anything.
Republicans have been making it clear for months that they intend to cut Social Security.
President Biden has set a trap for Republicans on the issues of Social Security and Medicare in the midterm election.
Kevin McCarthy isn’t hiding it. Republicans are going to use the same playbook that failed a decade ago on the debt ceiling. McCarthy and Republicans keep thinking that if they threaten Democrats with an American economic catastrophe, the Democratic president will give them what they want.
The problem is that this strategy has never worked, and it never will.
President Biden and Democrats will never agree to cut Social Security and Medicare. Democrats will wait Republicans out as they have done each time that the GOP has tried this stunt.
Kevin McCarthy is going down the same path of failure that will set the stage for Republicans to lose the House in 2024.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
