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Several Republican senators expressed solidarity with their House colleagues in support of the Limit, Save, Grow Act at a joint press conference attended by about 40 GOP members of Congress.
The bill, passed by the House in April, would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, enough to last for about one year, while limiting federal spending, strengthening work requirements for some recipients of federal benefits, clawing back unspent COVID-19 relief funds, and loosening restrictions on drilling for oil and gas.
Members of the upper chamber also echoed the Republican talking point that they would not support raising the debt limit without a simultaneous agreement to reduce non-discretionary federal spending.
“We won’t support bringing debate to a close on any debt ceiling increase that does not contain substantive spending and budgetary reforms,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Ariz.) said at a joint press conference with House Republicans on May 17.
“Now it just so happens, the House of Representatives has passed precisely such a bill. We stand behind that bill. We need to pull up and pass that bill. We need to do it today,” Lee said.
“We are united behind our House colleagues,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), vice chair of the Senate Republican caucus.
“They did a magnificent job of showing strength, of showing a plan, of showing a common sense, plain-and-simple way to answer the great, great challenge of the fiscal situation that we find ourselves in,” Capito said, adding that she believed negotiators from the House and the Biden administration would be able to work out a deal.
Absent from the press event were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), and Caucus Chair John Barrasso (R-Wy.).
McConnell, however, said on May 9 that he would support any deal brokered by House Speaker Kevin McConnell (R-Calif.) and President Joe Biden.
“The solution is between the one person in America who can sign a bill into law and the speaker of the House. And the sooner they get together, the better,” McConnell said.
“If they get together, the bill will pass both the House and the Senate on a bipartisan basis,” McConnell added.
McCarthy has been publicly less sure about reaching a deal.
In three press exchanges over the past week, the Speaker has declined to say that he is optimistic about the possibility of reaching a deal before June 1.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen named June 1 as the earliest date when the United States could go into default on its obligations if the debt ceiling is not raised.
Responding to a question on May 17 about how close the parties were to an agreement, McCarthy voiced little enthusiasm.
“The only thing I’m more optimistic about, [Biden] finally agreed to something that every other time we’ve been able to solve a problem has worked—the structure of negotiations. But now we’re on such a short timeline, it makes it almost harder,” McCarthy said, referring to Biden’s decision to delegate negotiations to two trusted aides.
Yet the Speaker did allow that a deal would be reached eventually.
“But if there’s one thing you know, for me, I never give up. I have the grit, the perseverance, and we’re gonna get it done,” he said.
