Lawmakers face a lengthy to-do list as they return to the Capitol after a two-week recess to confront a series of critical issues ranging from a looming debt limit crisis to the fallout from a leak of highly classified Pentagon documents.
There is still no agreement in sight to raise the debt ceiling despite the threat of economic catastrophe if the issue is not resolved in a matter of months and Republicans are eying passing their own debt ceiling increase paired with spending cuts in an effort to pressure the Biden administration to the negotiating table.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will deliver a speech on the economy at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, where he will address the looming crisis. A major challenge for House Republicans is whether they will be able to coalesce behind a detailed list of cuts.
House Republican leaders are moving behind the scenes to get their conference behind a plan that would raise the debt ceiling for one year with a slew of cuts and revenue raisers.
The goal is to put a bill on the House floor as soon as May that could pass the narrowly divided chamber and send a signal to President Joe Biden that any legislation raising the debt ceiling must have strings attached, according to GOP sources involved in the talks.
In a statement ahead of McCarthy’s speech, however, the White House said the debt limit issue should be addressed “promptly, without brinksmanship or hostage taking – as Republicans did three times in the last administration and as Presidents Trump and Reagan argued for in office,” pointing to a quote from former President Donald Trump.
How the speaker ushers his conference through the next several weeks will serve as a test of McCarthy’s leadership. It won’t be easy to find unity – as they hit a 100-day milestone, House Republicans have faced internal divisions over issues ranging…
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