As the nation’s economy barrels toward default, big-spending Democrats in Congress are calling for yet another increase in the federal debt limit.
Conservative Republicans, on the other hand, see the situation as an opportunity to force budget cuts in exchange for any change to the U.S. borrowing authority.
With just two days left until the government was expected to hit the limit, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) offered a possible solution during a Fox Business Network interview on Tuesday. He referred to the recently passed $1.7 trillion omnibus bill as an appropriate place to start trimming.
“Look, spending is out of control,” he said. “The debt ceiling has to be increased, but there has to be a tradeoff, as there often has been in the past.”
Everyone is talking about the need to raise the debt ceiling, but not enough folks are talking about WHY we have to raise it: for too long, the federal government has refused to live within its means.
Families do it. Why can't the federal government?
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) January 17, 2023
Rhetorically asking why the U.S. economy is experiencing such a deficit, Issa continued: “Because of excess spending. And with the recession, revenues of the government will go down. So, even if the Democrats were still in charge, the deficit would increase unless reforms are made.”
Acknowledging that it would require some tough budgetary decisions, the California Republican nevertheless concluded that spending cuts are crucial to bring down out-of-control deficits.
“We have to negotiate how we maintain a strong military, meet our commitments to Ukraine and to the other challenges, but at the same time rein in some of this excess spending,” Issa concluded. “And some of the best might be pulling back some of that 1.7 trillion. That would be a great tradeoff for, in fact, raising the debt ceiling.”
He echoed earlier comments by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), asserting that “we will keep the commitments of the United States government; full faith and credit will be maintained, but we have to get our house in order.”
In a statement earlier on Tuesday, McCarthy flexed his party’s newfound power in the House of Representatives while affirming his desire to come to a bipartisan arrangement to avoid default.
“I would like to sit down with all the leaders and especially the president and start having discussions,” he said. “Who wants to put the nation through some type of threat at the last minute with the debt ceiling? Nobody wants to do that.”
