On Thursday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said during a press conference that there will not be a “clean” raising of the debt ceiling unless there are spending reforms.
McCarthy’s comments came the day after he met with President Biden to discuss the federal budget and raising the debt ceiling as the U.S. federal government has reached its debt limit of $31 trillion and is set to default in June.
“The White House said that the president’s open to talking about the debt ceiling in a separate discussion about ways to control spending,” a reporter said.
“What do you think about when you hear that they kind of want to separate those two?” the reporter asked.
“Which – whichever way they want to talk about it, I’m very clear,” McCarthy said. “We will not pass a clean debt ceiling here without some form of spending reform. So, there’ll never be a clean one. I don’t know how they want to say it. That’s fine. But at the end of the day, we’re going to get spending reforms. I believe you have to lift the debt ceiling, but you do not lift the debt ceiling without changing your behavior.”
According to McCarthy, “the greatest threat to America is our debt,” he said Wednesday.
“I’m here to make sure their children do not have and continue this debt,” McCarthy said. “If we continue this trajectory we’re on, in the next ten years, we’ll spend $8 trillion just on interest. $8 trillion just on interest. What that means though, too, because of the spending that has been going on, that’s why you have inflation.”
“America’s strength will shrink,” McCarthy continued. “Everyone has always said, it doesn’t matter what occupation, whether you’re a U.S. General or not, the greatest threat to America is our debt. Our debt is now at 120% of GDP, meaning our debt is larger than our economy.”