Exclusive — Rep. Rosendale: McCarthy Has ‘Iron in His Words’ in Debt Ceiling Fight with Biden Because of Speaker Race

Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) spoke to Breitbart News on Tuesday ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address — during which Biden is expected to tout the enormous amounts of spending that have defined his presidency — about the power House Republicans have to rein in government spending this year.

Republicans, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), have vowed not to increase the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt limit without seeing substantial spending cuts or structural spending changes.

“Right now, there are a lot of discussions already taking place about what is the best way to manage this,” Rosendale said. “Are we going to be able to use this as a leverage point just one time and actually take the debt ceiling and tie policies and reductions in spending to the one-time opportunity, or are we going to do this in a step process where we increase the debt ceiling a little bit at a time, still working to make sure we change the trajectory of the spending that’s been taking place here?”

Rosendale, who opposed McCarthy becoming speaker up until the end of the bitter 15-ballot race, explained that the rules that govern the House, which were worked out during the race, have now given McCarthy “the tools” to face Biden and Senate Democrats, who have been loath to negotiate with Republicans to increase the debt limit.

“Two things happened when we went through the speaker’s race. One, we were able to bring rules and pass rules so that the Congress as a body now can function properly again. That was a very, very big part of the debate that really a lot of people don’t talk about,” Rosendale said. “The other thing is we now have given Speaker McCarthy tools that he otherwise would have not had to be able to go into the White House and to the Senate, quite frankly, and say here’s what we are willing to do, and they now know he has iron in his words.”

The rules, which were worked out between McCarthy and his detractors, included, among their many provisions, prohibiting net increases on mandatory government spending and requiring a higher voting threshold to pass any tax increases.

“We have seen that the increased spending has caused major problems in inflation. … Honestly, if we do not start reeling some of that in we are going to start experiencing that additional spending for decades to come,” Rosendale said. “So, I’m hoping that we can all come together. I believe that we will all come together and find some areas where we can reduce spending without increasing taxation on the people across the country.”

McCarthy, who has vowed not to raise taxes amid early debt limit negotiations, warned Monday in a prelude to Biden’s State of the Union that the national debt is “the greatest threat” to the country’s future.

He said, “The runaway spending in the last few years — it’s over. Now we must return Washington to a basic truth: Debt matters.”