[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 19, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1871-H1872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ADDRESSING THE DEBT LIMIT

  (Mr. McCARTHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, the American people have elected a divided 
government. Our government is designed to find compromise. That is why 
the House, the Senate, and the White House should be negotiating a 
responsible debt limit increase right now.
  If you gave your child a credit card and they kept maxing it out to 
the limit, you wouldn't blindly just raise the limit, you would change 
their behavior. That exact same thing is true with our national debt.
  We need to lower inflation, reduce our dependence on China, and lift 
Americans out of poverty. America has a $31 trillion debt, and 
Washington is on the clock.
  What are Democrats doing?
  President Biden is skipping town to deliver a speech in Maryland 
rather than sitting down to address the debt ceiling. He is giving 
America's debt the southern border treatment: Ignore it and hope that 
it goes away. In fact, he has been avoiding the issue for 77 straight 
days and counting.
  Senator Schumer is just missing in action. Rather than find common 
ground with the House, Senator Schumer is having the Senate vote on a 
nonbinding resolution commending and congratulating the University of 
Connecticut Men's Basketball Team for

[[Page H1872]]

winning the 2023 men's basketball championship.
  That is not all Senator Schumer has been doing. Last month he 
approved March as Maine's Maple Syrup Month. Talk about taking on big 
issues. I wonder what May's month will be about.
  While President Biden and Senate Democrats waste time, House 
Republicans are taking action.
  Today, I am proud to announce that we are introducing the Limit, 
Save, Grow Act of 2023.
  This responsible legislation will be led by our Budget Committee 
Chairman, Jodey Arrington, and would responsibly raise the debt limit 
into next year and provide more than $4.5 trillion in savings to the 
American taxpayers.
  Here is how we do it.
  First, we limit government spending. Our plan would return 
discretionary spending to pre-inflationary fiscal year 2022 levels, and 
then limit the growth of spending to 1 percent per year.
  Mr. Speaker, these are the same levels we had just 4 months ago. I 
didn't hear a single Democrat complain about that level of spending.
  The spending limits are not draconian. They are responsible. Federal 
spending exploded in the past 2 years when Democrats controlled all, 
and that doesn't include the trillions of COVID-era spending.
  By limiting government spending we will reduce inflation and restore 
fiscal discipline in Washington. If Washington wants to spend more, it 
will have to come together to find savings elsewhere--just like every 
single household in America.
  Second, we are going to save taxpayers money.
  Mr. Speaker, the pandemic is over. House Republicans have already 
passed the bill to officially end the pandemic, and President Biden 
signed it into law just last week.
  Our bill would actually claw back billions of dollars of unspent 
COVID money that has sat for the last 2 years. The American people are 
tired of politicians who use COVID as an excuse for more extreme, 
inflationary spending.
  If this money was authorized to fight the pandemic but was not spent 
during the pandemic, it should not be spent after the pandemic is over.
  Our proposals also repeal Biden's army of 87,000 IRS agents. That 
will save taxpayers $70 billion, and it is going to protect families 
and small businesses from a weaponized IRS.
  It would end the green giveaways for companies that distort the 
market and waste taxpayer money. Goldman Sachs did an analysis. They 
said the savings from ending the green giveaways are as much as $1.2 
trillion.
  We would prohibit President Biden's student loan giveaway for the 
wealthy. That would protect the 87 percent of adults without student 
loans from paying the loans of the 13 percent who do.

                              {time}  1430

  Finally, we will grow the economy so we are less dependent on China.
  Our proposal will restore American energy leadership, make it easier 
to build things in America, make us less dependent on China, and bring 
jobs back to America.
  It will also help lift millions of Americans out of poverty. Right 
now there are more job openings than people looking for work, in part 
because the Biden administration has weakened some of the very work 
requirements that then-Senator Joe Biden previously supported.
  Our plan ensures adults without dependents earn a paycheck and learn 
new skills. By restoring these commonsense measures, we can help more 
Americans earn a paycheck, learn new skills, reduce childhood poverty, 
and rebuild the workforce.
  It will also protect and preserve Medicare and Social Security 
because more people will be paying into it.
  We will prevent President Biden's executive overreach to spend money 
outside the normal process, which President Biden has abused to the 
tune of $1.5 trillion in unilateral executive actions.
  We should welcome and celebrate the benefits of a strong, growing 
economy, for with a strong, growing economy, we will no longer be 
dependent on China. We will no longer be victims to inflation, and we 
can leave a better future for our kids and our grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, House Republicans are taking action to lift the debt 
limit, limit government spending, save taxpayers money, and grow the 
economy.
  President Biden and Senator Schumer have no right to play politics 
with the debt ceiling. Their extreme position risks provoking the very 
crisis they claim to want to avoid. They need to sit down, negotiate, 
and address this crisis.
  Now that we have introduced a clear plan for a responsible debt limit 
increase, they have no more excuse to refuse to negotiate.
  I think the Senate can honor maple syrup and basketball teams and 
negotiate on a debt ceiling at the same time.
  We owe it to the American people to use this moment in history to 
deliver the future they want, need, and deserve.
  House Republicans have a plan. The Senate does not, and the President 
is ignoring the debt crisis.
  President Biden has a choice: come to the table and stop playing 
partisan political games, or cover his ears, refuse to negotiate, and 
risk bumbling his way into the first default in our Nation's history.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
support this plan to get our Nation back on track so, yes, we then can 
curb inflation, end our dependency on China, and strengthen and protect 
Social Security and Medicare.

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