Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) appeared on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo Sunday to blast President Biden’s unwillingness to negotiate on the House Republicans’ recent budget proposal which addresses the debt ceiling. Called the “Limit, Save, Grow” Act, the measure would raise the cap by $1.5 trillion while cutting back spending to FY 2022 levels.
“The contrast could not be starker,” Cruz said. “The Republicans in the House are responsible and Joe Biden… what is he saying? He’s saying ‘I will not talk, I will not negotiate, I will not give in on anything, anyhow, any way.’”
Cruz added that the Republicans have been willing to make concessions, but that Biden is unmovable:
“What is happening is, Joe Biden is gambling. Joe Biden needs to stop playing roulette with the American economy and with the American credit limit,” he continued.
“He doesn’t want to say that. Why? Because he wants to fear-monger. He wants to scare the equity markets. He wants to scare the bond markets, and what he is doing right now is wildly irresponsible.”
Joe Biden needs to stop playing roulette with the American economy.
Biden needs to stop fear-mongering. pic.twitter.com/lDFXBavmsk
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) April 30, 2023
RedState‘s Bonchie reported on what is actually in the “Limit, Save, Grow” Act that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) narrowly whipped up enough votes to pass:
Some of the provisions include very reasonable work requirements for Medicaid, halting of federal spending at 2022 levels, and a repeal of the money used to boost the IRS workforce. Green energy tax credits passed by the Inflation Reduction Act are also cut in the bill. Deficits would be cut by a sizable $4.8 trillion over the next 10 years.
McCarthy last week expressed similar views to Cruz’s about Biden, saying:
We have challenges around this country, around the world. He needs to show leadership and come to the negotiating table instead of putting us in default. This is risky, what he’s doing.
He’s threatening the markets. …
This goes against everything, what America was created upon that if you work hard, you can succeed, and that’s the difference. Come to the table, negotiate and do what is right.
The Biden White House claimed the Republican plan to responsibly lift the debt ceiling would “literally melt bones.”
Get serious.
Our plan claws back billions in unspent COVID money & limits spending levels to what they were just 4 months ago. It's not radical—it's responsible. pic.twitter.com/PffAwxiTpV
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) April 29, 2023
Cruz praised House Republicans for their budget efforts:
“They have demonstrated bold leadership. They brought the conference together… they have a very narrow majority in the House and yet the House came together. House conservatives played an active role in drafting this bill…” he said, adding that the debt ceiling bill takes aim at runaway spending, regulations and job-killing policies currently afflicting the nation.
“This bill is an exercise in being responsible.”
Biden has threatened to veto the bill should it ever cross his desk.
The consequences of a default would be disastrous, and the United States has never experienced one. The National Conference for State Legislators lays out some of the possible effects if the unthinkable were to happen:
The U.S. government could not create more debt by selling new bonds, thus halting the flow of federal funds. And, minting a trillion-dollar coin is purely theoretical. So, in a practical sense, Social Security and federal pension payments might cease; federal agencies would furlough employees; vital economic services such as the post office, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and the Federal Aviation Administration would stop without an emergency stopgap measure by Congress and the president.
When a household doesn’t have enough money to pay bills, they curtail spending. Biden needs to wake up and do the same before he sends our economy off a cliff with his stubbornness.
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