Ranks of Republicans Refusing a ‘Clean’ Debt Ceiling Hike Grows

A group of Republicans is joining Kevin McCarthy and the House Freedom Caucus in hardline negotiations.

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Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference on January 11. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Republican pragmatists in the House of Representatives have a message for President Joe Biden: We don’t support a clean debt ceiling increase, either. 

Rep. Dusty Johnson says that the group of pragmatic conservatives he leads in the House would oppose legislation raising the federal borrowing limit absent an accompanying deal with Biden and Senate Democrats to rein in government spending and reduce Washington’s $31.4 trillion debt. Absent such an agreement, the United States risks defaulting on its financial obligations, conceded Johnson, chairman of the Main Street Caucus, which now numbers more than 70*. 

“I don’t know a single pragmatic conservative who supports a clean debt ceiling increase,” the South Dakota Republican told The Dispatch in an interview Thursday. “If President Biden decides he wants to be a legislative terrorist who refuses to have a discussion about—who refuses to discuss meaningful action on a $32 trillion debt, then he has the power to hurt America. There’s no question about that.” 

Inside the Beltway, the “Will they or won’t they?” chatter about Republicans and a debt ceiling increase typically revolves around the House Freedom Caucus. This group of roughly 45 conservative insurgents tends to demand steep spending cuts and debt reduction measures in exchange for their votes to hike the federal borrowing limit. (At least, that’s been the case under Democratic presidents; it wasn’t under former President Donald Trump.) 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Citizen60

    Let’s see the House Republicans’ list of items they want to negotiate on.

    Inquiring minds want to know…

    After Tuesday night, we all know Social Security and Medicare won’t be on that list.

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  2. Avatar photo
    DougAz

    Typical Republicans and most conservatives.

    We have no plan. For anything
    Except cut things that will destroy our Party.
    We say no to Orange Juice!
    We say yes to give more poor peoples money to the Koch Oligarchs who will continue to f us.

    We Republicans. Undeserving. Unendearing. Bereft of any values but fear, war, hate and lies.

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  3. Avatar photo
    BrettH

    So, the 2 biggest drivers of the debt are off the table? Cool, go fight about not addressing the actual problem. Either cut benefits or raise taxes; it really is that simple and unsavory. My guess is nothing significant gets done until the programs become insolvent.

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  4. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    I actually think there’s a reasonable chance the Main Street Caucus could make a deal with Biden that trimmed spending a little. This is a positive development.

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  5. Sgruenwald730

    So the “good Republicans” want the same policy outcomes as the insane “Burn it Down!” types. Doesn’t that make them all “Burn it Down!” types? Color me shocked.

    Also, they have to pay the debt, it’s literally in the Constitution. Literally.

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    1. Libertyforallusa2

      Yes, they have to pay the debt. But they don't have to pay anything else. That's the issue.

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      1. Sgruenwald730

        That's what the budget process is for, negotiations for future spending and cuts happen there. The debt ceiling is a separate non-negotiable issue.

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  6. Daniel.Rabiner

    “I don’t know a single pragmatic conservative who supports a clean debt ceiling increase,” the South Dakota Republican told The Dispatch in an interview Thursday. “If President Biden decides he wants to be a legislative terrorist who refuses to have a discussion about—who refuses to discuss meaningful action on a $32 trillion debt, then he has the power to hurt America. There’s no question about that.”

    Why are they considered "pragmatic" exactly? And isn't the budget where they should be having a discussion about how we spend money?

    "Yet they are refusing to name any program, or line item, that deserves the knife. "

    Sounds very pragmatic to me. Demand something without naming it.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Party-san

    I don't see how this is anything other than virtue signaling, so that McCarthy can be seen to hold up his bargain with the Grievance Caucus. The Republicans have control of congress and therefore the next budget - is it not entirely within their power to rein in spending in the next budget anyway?

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      Ben Connelly

      They only have control of the House. Not all of Congress. The Dems control the Senate.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Party-san

        Point well taken. I was thinking more that the House Republicans can dig in and refuse to pass a budget without lots of cuts. If the senate responds by rejecting it and shutting down the government then this would be a much better political position for the GOP. It's odd to me that they're picking this fight now instead of then (except the Grievance Caucus aren't being strategic here).

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        1. Avatar photo
          Ben Connelly

          Except that they don’t want to actually make budget cuts, just pretend to care about them. At least the loudest of the caucus, that is.

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  8. Donnybrook

    As others have pointed out, waiting for Trump to throw them all under the bus by supporting a clean raising of the debt limit, as polling for default on the debt drops as the dates grow closer.

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  9. Alex G

    “ Johnson acknowledges Congress will have to deal with those but not during current talks. “To be clear and explicit, Medicare and Social Security are off the table with regard to this debt ceiling negotiation—Medicare and Social Security benefits.””

    I guess they want to save it for later, like half a sub sandwich. But, like our metaphorical half-sandwich, it’s not going to be a crisper, fresher conversation in a year or two.

    Politics is not all optics. Sometimes you have to talk about real money in the real world.

    Cause what if the math doesn’t work out? What if the House GOP can’t find $1.9 trillion dollars worth of NEA grants and PBS specials to cut from the budget? How many needles do you have to bend before you finally submit to reality and acknowledge that no blood will be drawn from the stone?

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    1. Avatar photo
      DougAz

      What are you talking about? The entire discretionary budget is $1.6 Trillion. $742B for defense and $892B for NIH, NASA, DoT..roads, FDA EPA, etc

      https://www.cbo.gov/publication/most-recent/graphics

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  10. Avatar photo
    Pgrossjr47

    What are the asterisks for?

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    1. Alex G

      I thought that was odd too. On other articles here I’ve seen them used for corrections, but there’s a corresponding note for each. Weird.

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