White House Threatens to Veto Only Legislation Moving Through Congress to Raise Debt Ceiling

The White House is threatening to veto the only legislation currently moving through Congress — led by House Republicans — that would raise the debt ceiling.

The White House released a Statement of Administration Policy on Monday, calling the Republican-led legislation to raise the debt limit and cut government spending “a reckless attempt to extract extreme concessions as a condition for the United States simply paying the bills it has already incurred,” and vowed to veto the measure if it makes it to Biden’s desk.

The legislation, the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, would raise the debt ceiling while tackling America’s national deficit. The GOP’s proposal would increase the debt limit by $1.5 trillion and cut federal spending by $130 billion over the next year.

“The President has been clear that he will not accept such attempts at hostage-taking,” the White House stated before claiming the GOP will be at fault if the county defaults. “House Republicans must take default off the table and address the debt limit without demands and conditions, just as the Congress did three times during the prior Administration.”

“Altogether, this legislation would not only risk default, recession, widespread job loss, and years of higher interest rates, but also make devastating cuts to programs that hard-working Americans and the middle-class count on,” the White House claimed.

Biden has refused to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) about the debt ceiling, despite the California lawmaker requesting the White House to schedule meetings to discuss the proposal. In fact, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), up for reelection in a red state, recently slammed Biden’s “deficiency of leadership” for refusing to meet with the Speaker.

The House Republican leadership has said the bill would make it to the floor to be voted on this week and will need 218 votes to pass with his four-seat majority. But the measure will have difficulty passing in the Senate, where the Democrats hold a 51 to 49 majority.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.