Array
The chair of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservatives demanding fiscal responsibility by the federal government, says that he may accept an increase in the U.S. debt limit beyond the current proposal laid out by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the caucus chair, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the caucus is willing to entertain increasing in the nation’s borrowing ability beyond the House GOP’s proposed $1.5 trillion, provided he receives more spending cuts in exchange. “If they want, instead, 2 or 3 [trillion dollars]. OK, I’m not going to be immediately opposed to that. What are you going to offer?” he told the DCNF.
Perry said that the Freedom Caucus is willing to engage in “horse trading” on the debt ceiling. “If you don’t like the cuts, tell me what else you want. We can do some horse trading and take a look at what your proposal is,” he told the DCNF.
Perry was speaking of the debt-ceiling proposal announced by McCarthy on Wednesday as a stop-gap solution to avoid a U.S. national debt default, which is projected to occur in August absent congressional action to raise the debt ceiling. The U.S. national debt is currently $31.46 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury, which is 120% the size of the economy, per the Federal Reserve.
President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have been pushing for a unilateral increase in the debt limit, de-linked from budget talks, while House Republicans have argued that any increase must be accompanied by cuts in the federal budget to prevent greater spending that creates large debts. “[Biden’s] spending unimaginable amounts of money even after the pandemic is over. He wants to spend over $7 trillion. That’s insane,” said Perry.
The Freedom Caucus, however, would not commit to supporting the House GOP proposal, which was drafted along with Republican Rep.
