House progressives reiterated they would not commit to supporting a “bad deal” to lift the debt ceiling, a warning that comes as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) presses for deep spending cuts in negotiations with the White House.
“I think it all depends on what is in the deal,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said during a press conference on Wednesday, responding to a reporter who asked if the group would support a compromise bill.
“You’ve heard that we are not going to support a deal that hurts working people,” she added.
A key hangup in negotiations for the group has been work requirements, a long-sought effort from Republicans to impose stricter conditions on recipients of Medicaid and other federal assistance programs.
“The American people did not elect House progressives so we can lay back while people’s food benefits are cut,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Wednesday.
Jayapal sidestepped questions about whether the White House has given the caucus any assurances that the work requirements would ultimately be taken off the table.
“We’ve been clear that any deal that the White House strikes, and I’ve said this numerous times — said this privately in conversations and we’ve said it publicly — any deal that the White House strikes has to be something that we House Democrats also are a part of and at the table for,” Jayapal said.
FOOD STAMPS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NEW SNAP CHANGES IN 2023
The caucus urged House Republicans to join Democrats on a discharge petition in an effort to force a vote on a clean debt limit increase without McCarthy’s backing. As of Wednesday afternoon, every member of the House Democratic caucus had signed on, meaning they still need to find five Republicans for the petition to be successful. Jayapal also advocated once again for President Joe Biden to consider invoking the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
“If necessary, the president can take unilateral action to avoid default by acting according to the 14th Amendment and pay these bills,” Jayapal said. “Let’s be clear: If we default, if we crash the economy, there is only one person to blame, and that is the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.”
However, some members of the caucus spoke out on the limitations of utilizing the 14th Amendment.
“It’s constitutionally a good way to go. The problem with the 14th Amendment is that there would undoubtedly be litigation,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). “The litigation will be over the question of standing, and the period of uncertainty until the Supreme Court rules would certainly roil stock markets.”
A new Monmouth poll released Wednesday found that 34% of respondents approve of Biden’s handling of the debt limit, while 32% approve of the way Democrats in Congress have handled it; 29% approve of Republicans’ handling so far.
Meanwhile, a Marist poll found that 45% of U.S. adults would primarily blame Republicans for a default, while 43% would primarily blame Biden. Progressive members said the polling results are not an accurate depiction of how the public is viewing the standoff.
“It makes sense that if you ask the American people, ‘Should there be cuts?’ that they might say yes,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). “Then, you have to ask them, what do they want cut. You might find that most Americans might be interested in repealing the tax cuts,” she added, referring to the new estimates by the Congressional Budget Office that peg the cost of permanently extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 at $3.5 trillion.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus called for Democrats to act on the debt ceiling in last fall’s lame-duck session “to prevent Republican hostage-taking efforts” that could result in spending cuts, a point Jayapal emphasized when the Washington Examiner asked if Democrats had regrets about not raising it while Democrats held the White House, House, and Senate.
“If you look at our executive action list from last year, we pushed very hard and raised it multiple times that we needed to deal with the debt ceiling immediately while we had control of all three bodies,” she said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), sidestepped a similar question, casting the blame on Republicans in the Senate.
“It’s my understanding that the challenge was not addressing the debt ceiling, not because Democrats refused to do it, but it’s my understanding that Republicans in the Senate were unwilling to discuss this issue last December, perhaps because they wanted a hostile takeover,” he said.
.@RepJeffries: “House Republicans are determined to either extract deep, painful cuts that will hurt the health, the safety or the wellbeing of everyday Americans or crashed the economy.” pic.twitter.com/L0mEhsNhtI
— Samantha-Jo Roth (@SamanthaJoRoth) May 24, 2023
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McCarthy specifically called out progressives Wednesday when asked why he isn’t offering Democrats any concessions for lifting the debt ceiling. McCarthy said the spending caps and tougher work requirements for federal benefits were the concessions.
“If AOC and Bernie Sanders is going to run their party, that’s not my fault,” he told reporters, referring to Ocasio-Cortez.
