周三去众议院共和党人勉强通过了提高国家债务上限的法案在削减联邦政府开支的同时——尽管这项立法没有成为法律的前景，共和党领导人希望这将有助于推动与民主党的谈判。
这个提议，被称为“限制、节约、增长法案”四名共和党人与所有民主党人一起投了反对票
这些共和党人是众议员安迪·比格斯、肯·巴克、蒂姆·伯切特和马特·盖兹。
麦卡锡随后召开了一次新闻发布会来宣传这一段落，并暗示民主党批评者需要做的不仅仅是抱怨。他在新闻发布会上直接对乔·拜登总统说:“我们是唯一通过计划的人。所以，我想现在就看你的了。无论经济是否陷入困境，都是你的问题，因为共和党提高了债务上限。”
“我们已经完成了我们的工作，”他说。
“参议院可能会通过我们的法案，或者把他们有的东西发给我们，”他说，“然后我们就去开会。”
麦卡锡告诉美国广播公司新闻高级国会记者雷切尔·斯科特，白宫在债务上限问题上没有沟通，在安排另一次会议方面也没有进展。总统和议长曾在二月会面。
在周三晚上的一份声明中，白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔谴责共和党的法案削减了“医疗保健、教育、餐车和公共安全”，并因医疗补助的拟议工作要求而削减了数百万人的医疗保健。
“在我们的历史上，我们从未拖欠债务或无法支付账单。国会共和党人必须立即无条件采取行动，以避免违约，并确保美国的全部信心和信用不会面临风险。这是他们的工作，”让-皮埃尔说。
周三的投票是对麦卡锡领导会议的最新考验。鉴于共和党在众议院占微弱多数，他只能承受该法案的四次背叛——他同意本周与共和党顽固分子达成一系列最后时刻的妥协，如为某些联邦项目增加更严格的工作要求，恢复乙醇税收抵免，白宫指责这是一种不公平的“分割”。
如果获得通过，该法案将把债务上限提高1.5万亿美元，将联邦机构的资金减少到2022财年的水平，将政府支出的增长限制在每年1%，并阻止白宫支持的各种措施，如联邦学生债务取消和国税局的新资金。
“我们不能像总统那样坐视不管，忽视这个问题。我知道他在边境上这样做，我也知道他现在在美国的财政政策上这样做，”麦卡锡周二在投票前告诉记者。他认为该法案是为了“让我们和民主党坐到谈判桌前”。
“我们希望坐下来一起工作，这正是这项法案所做的，”他说，并指出“我们坐在31万亿美元的债务上。”
拟议的债务上限提高将持续到2024年3月，比拜登总统喜欢的延长时间短，以换取削减支出和政策变化。
2023年4月26日，当众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡走在美国国会大厦时，媒体成员紧随其后
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默表示，该法案在参议院没有机会，总统发誓要否决它。民主党人一再坚持认为，债务上限的提高应该与政府支出和政策的任何妥协分开。
“国会将需要无条件提高债务上限，就这么简单，”让-皮埃尔在1月份表示。她最近将众议院的法案贴上了“勒索信”的标签。
因为美国没有足够的收入来支付账单，所以它定期借钱，增加债务，这是由国会限制的，除非立法者提高限额。美国在1月份达到了债务上限，财政部自那以来一直在采取“非常措施”来保持政府资金，但这些措施最早将于6月到期。
在周三早些时候的新闻发布会上，参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)承认，众议院共和党的法案无法在参议院获得通过，但表示麦卡锡和拜登必须达成某种妥协。“我们绝不能违约，协议需要在议长和总统之间达成，”他说。
麦康奈尔引用了奥巴马政府时期拜登参与的债务上限谈判，称拜登“知道有时在分裂的政府中，你不会完全按照你想要的方式做事。”
周三下午，在众议院投票之前，拜登在离开与正在华盛顿访问的韩国总统尹苏克耀举行的新闻发布会时，被问到一个关于债务上限谈判的大声提问。
“他们还没有弄清楚债务限额，”拜登有点讽刺地说。
当一名记者问他是否会与麦卡锡会面时，总统说会，但再次明确表示，他认为提高债务上限“没有商量的余地”。
“我很高兴与麦卡锡会面，但不是在债务上限是否会得到延长的问题上，”他说。
House GOP narrowly passes bill to raise debt limit and cut spending; White House called it 'ransom'
House Republicans on Wednesdaynarrowly passed a bill to increase the nation's debt ceilingwhile cutting federal government spending -- and while the legislation has no prospect of becoming law, GOP leaders hopeit will help force negotiations with Democrats.
The proposal,known as the Limit, Save, Grow Act, passed 217-215, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in voting no.
Those Republicans were Reps. Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett and Matt Gaetz.
McCarthy held a news conference afterward to tout the passage and jabbed back at Democratic critics by suggesting they needed to do more than complain. He addressed President Joe Biden directly at the news conference: "We're the only ones to pass a plan. So, I think it's up to you now. Whether the economy goes in any trouble, it's you, because the Republicans raised the debt limit."
"We've done our job," he said.
"The Senate could pass our bill or send us something that they have," he said, "and we'll go to a conference."
McCarthy told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott that there has been no communication with the White House on the debt ceiling and no progress on setting up another meeting. The president and the speaker previously met in February.
In a statement Wednesday night, White House press secretary Karine Karine Jean-Pierre decried the GOP bill as cutting "health care, education, Meals on Wheels, and public safety" and cutting health care for millions because of proposed work requirements for Medicaid.
"In our history, we have never defaulted on our debt or failed to pay our bills. Congressional Republicans must act immediately and without conditions to avoid default and ensure that the full faith and credit of the United States is not put at risk. That is their job," Jean-Pierre said.
Wednesday's vote was the latest test of McCarthy's leadership of his conference. Given the narrow Republican majority in the House, he could only afford four defections on the bill -- and he agreed to a series of 11th hour compromises this week with GOP holdouts, such as adding more stringent work requirements for certain federal programs and restoring ethanol tax credits, which the White House blasted as an unfair "carve out."
If enacted, the bill would increase the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, reduce funding for federal agencies to 2022 fiscal year levels, limit growth in government spending to 1% per year and block various measures backed by the White House, such as federal student debt cancellation and new funding for the IRS.
"We cannot sit back and ignore the problem like the president has. I know he does it with the border, and I know he is now doing it with the fiscal policy of America," McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday before the vote. He the bill was "to get us to the negotiating table" with Democrats.
"We want to sit down and work together, and that is exactly what this bill does," he said, noting that "we are sitting at $31 trillion of debt."
The proposed debt limit increase would last through March 2024 -- a shorter extension than preferred by President Biden -- in exchange for spending cuts and policy changes.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said the bill has no chance in his chamber and the president has vowed to veto it. Democrats have repeatedly insisted the debt ceiling should be raised separate from any compromise on government spending and policy.
"Congress is going to need to raise the debt limit without -- without -- conditions and it's just that simple," Jean-Pierre said in January. She recently labeled the House bill a "ransom note."
Because the U.S. does not take in enough revenue to pay for its bills, it periodically borrows money, increasing its debt -- which is capped by Congress unless lawmakers raise the limit. The U.S. hit that debt ceiling in January and the Treasury Department has been employing "extraordinary measures" since then to keep the government funded, but those will run out as early as June.
In remarks at a news conference earlier on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged the House GOP bill couldn't clear the Senate but said that McCarthy and Biden must come to some compromise. "We must never default, and the agreement needs to be reached between the speaker and the president," he said.
Citing past debt ceiling negotiations that involved Biden during the Obama administration, McConnell said Biden "knows that sometimes in divided government, you don't get things exactly the way you want them."
On Wednesday afternoon, before the House voted, Biden was asked a shouted question about negotiating on the debt ceiling as he left a press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is visiting Washington.
"They haven't figured out the debt limit yet," Biden said, somewhat sarcastically.
When a reporter asked if he would meet with McCarthy, the president said yes -- but made it clear, once again, that he views increasing the debt ceiling as "not negotiable."
"I'm happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended," he said.
