![]() The protracted but finally concluded struggle to elect a new Speaker of the House may be a precursor to a coming battle over whether to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. California Congressman Kevin McCarthy secured the Speakership in the new 118th Congress on January 7, after a historic 15 ballots. Although McCarthy has defined himself as a fiscal conservative, he has been less adamant on questions related to the debt ceiling. As officially defined by the Treasury Department, the debt ceiling is the total amount of money that the federal government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing obligations. Those obligations include Medicare and Society Security benefits, as well as military salaries and interest on the national debt. For years, various members of Congress have been trying to increase the debt ceiling in order to fund such obligations, while others have adamantly opposed any increases as being fiscally irresponsible. In the new Congress, some members have suggested that they may utilize debt ceiling concerns as a bargaining tool with President Biden in order to reduce overall federal spending. McCarthy, notes The Hill newspaper, could be particularly vulnerable to debt ceiling demands due to last minute concessions he may have made with Republican holdouts who finally agreed to support him. “The looming effort to increase the debt ceiling will likely be the ultimate test of the coming year for the California Republican,” asserts the publication, “and will prove consequential in answering how long his tenure will last.” According to the Washington Times, a spokesperson for McCarthy asserted that the Speaker will “not agree to a debt limit increase absent a discretionary budgetary agreement in line with a House-passed budget resolution or other commensurate fiscal reforms to reduce and cap the growth of spending.” But in a signal of a coming battle, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters several hours after McCarthy won the Speakership battle that the President would make no concession on the debt ceiling. “Attempts to exploit the debt ceiling as leverage will not work,” she remarked. The issue is expected to come to a head most likely by late summer as members of Congress contemplate raising the debt ceiling in order to prevent defaulting on the $31 trillion national debt. By Garry Boulard
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