McCarthy expects debt limit bill to pass House this week, as key Senate Dems urge Biden to negotiate

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy expects his debt limit bill to pass the House this week as key Senate Democrats are urging President Biden to meet with him and negotiate. 

The legislation, formally titled the Limit, Save, Grow Act, would limit domestic spending growth by 1% per year and eliminate a host of green energy tax credits under the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act that passed last December in the Democratic Congress. It would extend the nation's debt limit for one year.

The debt limit previously set by Congress has been reached, and the national debt is inching toward $32 trillion.  

"These spending limits are not draconian, they're responsible," McCarthy said when the bill was introduced last week. "Federal spending exploded in the past two years by 17%, and that doesn't include trillions in COVID-era spending." 

Biden immediately came out in strong opposition to the bill, and he continues to advocate a clean debt limit increase without strings attached.

"That's the MAGA economic agenda: spending cuts for working and middle-class folks," Biden said. "It's not about fiscal discipline, it's about cutting benefits for folks that they don't seem to care much about."

McCarthy on Sunday invited President Biden to meet with the House GOP to hash out a debt ceiling plan. It remains unclear whether McCarthy and Biden are scheduled to meet.

"Like every other household in America — if Washington wants to spend more, it needs to save more somewhere else," he wrote on Twitter. "This isn't controversial — it's common sense. I invite the President to get serious and join Republicans at the table."

McCarthy said the Limit, Save, Grow Act will pass the GOP-led House.

"We will hold a vote this week, and we will pass it," he said on Sunday. "I cannot imagine someone in our conference that would want to go along with Biden's reckless spending."

The bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus last week proposed its own framework for a debt ceiling agreement. Just the News reached out to the office of caucus cochair Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) to see if he supports McCarthy's bill but a response was not received before press time.

Meanwhile, more Democratic lawmakers are encouraging Biden to meet with McCarthy as the clock ticks on the debt ceiling. 

"I applaud Speaker McCarthy for putting forward a proposal that would rein in federal spending," West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said in a statement. "While I do not agree with everything proposed, the fact of the matter is that it is the only bill actually moving through Congress that would prevent default.

"For the sake of the country, I urge President Biden to come to the table, propose a plan for real and substantive spending cuts and deficit reduction, and negotiate now." 

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar also encouraged Biden to negotiate.

"He should negotiate on the budget," Klobuchar said on CNN Sunday. "That is the place to negotiate, and they should start those negotiations now. Not using the American people and their mortgages as hostage because right now, you've gotta simply make clear, we're gonna avoid default and get this behind us."

Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said on NBC that the priority for Congress should be to avoid default on the national debt but "of course we should talk."