Biden accuses McCarthy of breaking GOP 'Commitment to America' agenda with debt ceiling bill

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy proposes raising debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion

Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has the latest on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's plans to raise the debt ceiling and trim government spending. 

EXCLUSIVE: The White House is accusing House Republicans of breaking their "Commitment to America" agenda with their proposed bill to raise the debt ceiling, and claiming President Biden is the only one who is demonstrating "an actual commitment" to the United States.  

The "Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023" would aim to raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion or until the end of March 2024, while also capping discretionary government spending at fiscal 2022 levels.

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Biden, through a Statement of Administration Policy, has already vowed to veto the bill should it pass the House and Senate and reach his desk.

US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (L), Republican of California, and US President Joe Biden attend the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon on St. Patrick's Day at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 17, 2023. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) (ANDREW CABALLERO/AFP via Getty)

But the White House is slamming McCarthy, R-Calif., accusing him of "pushing his members to break their Commitment to America."

"The Speaker’s Limit Growth Act is an attack on American manufacturing, American law enforcement, and American families all in the name of making it easier fo rate richest Americans to cheat on their taxes, and paying for even more tax giveaways that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations," White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson told Fox News Digital.

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The White House pointed to GOP lawmakers’ promise to support an increase in police and law enforcement, claiming that the bill "defunds the police" by slashing federal law enforcement funding for "11,000 FBI personnel and 400 local police officers."

But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office fired back, telling Fox News Digital that Biden’s "irresponsible refusal" to sit down for negotiations with the speaker "threatens the entire" economy.

"President Biden’s reckless spending has already threatened the financial well-being of every American family, and now his irresponsible refusal to negotiate with Speaker McCarthy threatens the entire American economy with the first default in our history," Chad Gilmartin, deputy spokesman for Speaker McCarthy, told Fox News Digital.

"House Republicans have the only plan that responsibly raises the debt ceiling and avoids a default while growing the economy and making us less dependent on China," Gilmartin said.

The White House also claimed the bill "kills jobs and shrinks the economy," while also sending "manufacturing jobs back to China."

"The bill repeals key Inflation Reduction Act incentives and domestic production requirements which are helping to drive over $200 billion in clean energy manufacturing investments in the United States just since the IRA was signed into law," Patterson said. "Doing so would provide a windfall of economic benefits to China."

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The White House also claims the House GOP bill would "defund the Border Patrol" by cutting funding "for more than 2,000 Customs and Border Protection agents" and "allowing tens of thousands of pounds of illegal drugs including fentanyl to cross the border," which it says is directly in contrast with the GOP agenda which promises to "secure the border" and "fully fund effective border enforcement strategies, infrastructure and advanced technology."

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"By putting forward this bill, the only things House Republicans are committing to are increasing crime, letting more fentanyl onto our streets, and sending American manufacturing jobs to China," Patterson said. "House Republicans pledged to use their majority to help Americans.  But they’re abandoning hardworking Americans to help  the wealthy tax cheats who benefit from Speaker McCarthy’s Limit Growth Act."

Patterson said Biden’s plan would "cut the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over 10 years by asking the super-wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share and cutting wasteful spending on special interests like Big Pharma and Big Oil."

"It’s the only plan on the table that demonstrates an actual commitment to America," Patterson said.

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MCCARTHY SAYS BIDEN 'COMPLETELY MISSING IN ACTION' ON DEBT LIMIT NEGOTIATIONS

Gilmartin said: "Biden said it was his ‘great honor’ to negotiate debt ceiling agreements before—he should honor the American people today by doing his job and coming to the table again."

McCarthy and House Republicans say their plan would lift the debt ceiling, save taxpayers trillions of dollars, and make the United States "less dependent" on China, while curbing high inflation. McCarthy said this can all be done "without touching Social Security or Medicare."

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"Simply put, it puts us on a responsible fiscal path in three ways: limit, save, and grow," McCarthy said earlier this month. 

McCarthy and House GOP leaders have repeatedly criticized Biden for refusing to negotiate on its budget proposal which includes a debt ceiling hike and spending limits. McCarthy and Biden have not sat down to discuss the debt ceiling since February 1. 

McCarthy has been urging Biden to negotiate for months. Biden and Democrats have, instead, insisted that Congress raise the government's borrowing limit without conditions.

The debt ceiling, which sits at $31.381 trillion, is the legal limit on the total amount of debt that the federal government can borrow to fund everything from Social Security and Medicare benefits to military salaries and tax refunds. McCarthy said earlier this year that the debt is the "greatest threat" America faces.

Congress last voted to raise the debt ceiling in December 2021. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen projected that the government can pay its bills through early June without needing an increase in the government's borrowing limit.