Twenty-Four Senate Republicans Sign Letter Demanding Spending Cuts as Condition for Debt-Ceiling Raise

Twenty-four Senate Republicans have signed a letter to President Biden saying they will not support a debt-ceiling increase without spending cuts.

“Our nation’s fiscal policy is a disaster,” reads the letter led by Republican Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Budd of North Carolina. “Our country owes $31 trillion, a level of debt that now well exceeds the size of our economy. Inflation is making life more expensive for American families every single day.”

The senators add: “Meanwhile, your administration is directing federal agencies to continue to spend billions in taxpayer resources, expanding the size and scope of the IRS to go after families and small businesses, policing the speech of Americans on social media, funding equity programs in the military, and pouring money into programs for a pandemic that your administration has declared over.”

“We do not intend to vote for a debt-ceiling increase without structural reforms to address current and future fiscal realities and manage out-of-control government policies,” the letter concludes.

Now that the country has maxed out on its $31.4 trillion borrowing authority, the Treasury Department has announced it will take “extraordinary measures” to avoid default, including delaying some payments, such as contributions to federal employees’ retirement plans, to free up funds for essential payments such as those for Social Security and debt instruments.

Yet the Treasury Department on Monday announced it will increase its borrowing over the first quarter of 2023, despite the country having reached the debt limit. The U.S. will borrow $932 billion in the first three months of the year — $353 billion more than previously projected, according to the Associated Press.

The debt limit is likely to create a showdown between Republicans, who want spending cuts, and the president, who wants to raise the debt ceiling without any conditions.

Without intervention, the government could be left unable to pay its bills by June.

Treasury officials have urged Congress to move quickly to raise the debt ceiling.

“Even just the threat that the U.S. government might fail to meet its obligations may cause severe harm to the economy by eroding household and business confidence, injecting volatility into financial markets, and raising the cost of capital — among other negative impacts,” Ben Harris, Treasury’s assistant secretary for economic policy, said in a statement.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is set to meet with Biden on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

“I want to sit down together, work out an agreement that we can move forward to put us on a path to balance — and at the same time not put any of our debt in jeopardy at the same time,” McCarthy said during an appearance on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.