House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Monday signaled that he may call off the House recess scheduled for next week to deal with the debt ceiling.
“Oh, yes. We’re going to stay and do our job,” McCarthy told reporters on Monday when he was asked about calling off the “some or all” of the House’s recess if there isn’t an agreement on the debt ceiling yet. “The difference here is — when Republicans took over — we no longer have this proxy voting.”
“I believe it’s more productive if, if the voters vote for you, and lend the voice to you, you should be here to provide that voice,” he added. “Whether you are with me or against me, I think the voices need to be here. That’s what the American people want.”
McCarthy also said that he is “very confident” that the United States will not default next week and suggested that it could be avoided if the Senate passed the legislation the House Republicans passed last month.
“I’m very confident because the House Republicans passed a bill that raised the debt limit [and] it’s sitting in the Senate. If you’re on the brink, pass that, and we’ll never have to worry about it.”
The Speaker was referring to the legislation — the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 — passed by House Republicans last month to raise the debt ceiling, but it stuck in the Democrat-controlled Senate. The legislation would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion while tackling America’s national deficit, saving the government an estimated $4.8 trillion over the next ten years.
On Monday, Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote a letter to McCarthy, and other congressional leaders, reaffirming her May 15 letter that indicated the U.S. could hit the debt ceiling “potentially as early” as June 1, next Thursday.
“I am writing to note that we estimate that it is highly likely that Treasury will no longer be able to satisfy all of the government’s obligations if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by early June, and potentially as early as June 1,” she wrote.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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