• House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is having to grapple with the difference between the rhetoric that fires up the Republican base and the reality of governance.
• McCarthy won the votes to become speaker by promising the far-right members of the Republican conference a number of things, including that he would not agree to raising the debt ceiling without demanding cuts in federal spending.
• This argument mixed together two separate things: the debt ceiling, which must be lifted to enable the government to pay for money already appropriated, and the budget, which is a plan for spending money in the future.
• Republicans have backed off on demanding cuts to Social Security and Medicare after facing a backlash.
• President Joe Biden and the Democrats have said that they will not negotiate over the debt ceiling.
• On Wednesday, Biden and McCarthy will meet in person.
• National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Office of Management Budget Director Shalanda Young sent a memo to the Republicans pointing out that protecting the security of the national debt has always been a bipartisan commitment.
• At a Democratic National Committee fundraiser today, Biden mourned the loss of the mainstream Republicans of the past and lamented McCarthy’s willingness to cater to extremists for power.
Published February 1, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post January 31, 2023
