Speaking with Fox News, newly inducted Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy expressed his opinion on the debt-ceiling decision that Congress will soon face – and he’s not too thrilled with the way it’s been handled thus far.
The Republican representative appeared on Fox News Wednesday to talk about finances of Congress, which hit its borrowing cap Thursday, sending the Treasury Department into overdrive to prevent a default on the nation’s debt.
“What I really think we would do is treat this like we would treat our own household. If you had a child, you gave them a credit card, and they kept hitting the limit, you wouldn’t just keep increasing it,” he said. “You’d first see what are you spending your money on? How can we cut items out?”
According to CNN, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote letters to the House speaker, expressing that she expects the measures (accounting strategy) put in place to last until early June, but she did write of “considerable uncertainty” around that forecast.
This is the second time in less than two years that The Treasury Department has had to maneuver around money to avoid cracking the debt ceiling. Late in 2021, similar measures were taken before lawmakers reached an agreement in December to raise the limit, therefore avoiding a default altogether.
“Every government has to do this. Every state has to balance their budget, county, city. For the White House to say they won’t even look at it, that they can’t find one penny out of a dollar of eliminating waste,” McCarthy continued. “I think they’re just trying to put us into bankruptcy. What I am saying and it’s my conversation with the President, on our first conversation, ‘Let’s sit down together. Let’s look at the places that we can change our behavior.’”
McCarthy was elected House speaker Jan. 7 after days of negotiations and failed votes. The politician represents the current House majority of Republicans and hails from California.
