US: House Rules Committee to Meet, Discuss Debt Ceiling Bill

The US House Rules Committee will be meeting this week to discuss the debt ceiling bill. The meeting comes as President Joe Biden struck a deal with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on raising the debt ceiling, following the Treasury’s warnings of the US going into default if no action is taken.

The House Rules Committee will be meeting on Tuesday to discuss the new debt ceiling bill, which would have to pass a divided Congress to be able to avert the country going into default by June 5. Biden and McCarthy came to an agreement on the debt ceiling on Sunday after several rounds of discussions. The Democratic president said the legislation was ready to move through Congress for a vote.

If approved by Congress, the legislation would prevent the government from going into default. The bipartisan legislation has come under fire from hardline Republicans and progressive Democrats. Despite the criticism, Biden and McCarthy are counting on getting enough votes for the bill to pass on a bipartisan vote.

McCarthy on Sunday said the bill would be supported by House Republicans, which hold the majority by a narrow margin in the House of Representatives. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he is expecting Democratic support for the legislation.

Under the agreement, the debt limit would be raised until 2025 and cap spending until that time, draws back unused funds from the COVID-19 plan, and ramp up the permitting process for some energy projects while including extra requirements for food aid programs for Americans who are struggling financially. The legislation would also authorize over $886 billion in spending for the 2024 fiscal year and over $703 billion in non-security spending for the same year. It would also include a one percent increase in security spending for the 2025 fiscal year.

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was placed on Russia’s wanted list over his remarks about the ongoing war that Moscow is waging on Ukraine. This follows Graham’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, where the presidential office published a video that showed Graham saying, “The Russians are dying,” and that the US support was the “best money we’ve ever spent.”

Graham responded to Moscow’s move, saying that the arrest warrant for the Republican lawmaker was “a badge of honor.”

Photo: White House/Wikimedia Commons(CC by 2.0)