A renewed focus on fiscal restraint in the debt limit standoff with Democrats poses its own political risks.
WASHINGTON — At a news conference this month to showcase how Republicans will handle their looming debt ceiling showdown with Democrats, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin was asked to explain what specific spending cuts his party would support in exchange for lifting the borrowing cap.
“Exactly what those are, we’re not willing to lay out here today,” Mr. Johnson said, adding that plans would be determined in consultation with House Republicans.
The refrain has been familiar in recent weeks as Republicans have insisted that they want “structural” fiscal changes in exchange for voting to raise the borrowing cap, but they have so far declined to offer a cohesive plan outlining what programs they would cut. Internal divisions over how to reduce spending have been spilling into public view, underscoring the political challenge that Republicans face as they try to wield the specter of a default to extract concessions from President Biden and Democrats.
In the meantime, the United States technically has already exceeded the $31.4 trillion debt limit, and the Treasury Department has warned that its ability to delay a default by using its so-called extraordinary measures could be exhausted by early June.
On Wednesday, President Biden will meet with Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the White House to discuss the debt limit and budget priorities. Before that meeting, White House officials said, Mr. Biden will ask the Republican lawmaker to commit to the principle that the United States will never default on its financial obligations and press Mr. McCarthy about when House Republicans plan to release their budget.
“It is essential that Speaker McCarthy likewise commit to releasing a budget, so that the American people can see how House Republicans plan to reduce the deficit,” Brian Deese, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, and Shalanda Young, the director of the White House budget office, wrote in a memo released on Tuesday.
Mr. McCarthy accused Mr. Biden on Tuesday of being irresponsible by suggesting that he was unwilling to seek common ground over the debt ceiling and said that the White House’s refusal to bargain was “childish.”
“Why would you put the economics of America in jeopardy?” Mr. McCarthy said to reporters. “Why would you play political games? I’m not.”………..