U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer shares concerns about the House Republican debt ceiling plan.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks on House Republican debt ceiling plan (April 26, 2023)

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks on House Republican debt ceiling plan (April 26, 2023)

House Republicans passed a debt ceiling hike Wednesday.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed his package to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion through the House in a close vote. But the White House continues to say that it will not negotiate on the issue.

The federal government could default as soon as early June.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the House’s Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, calling it a “gut punch” and a “Default On America,” “This plan means fewer jobs, higher costs for the American people, particularly average middle class people, would leave police, first responders, border patrol, and our brave veterans all hanging out to dry. There are dramatic slashes with each of those very necessary functions.”

Schumer said a clean debt ceiling had been passed before in a bipartisan manner twice under President Trump and once under President Obama.

Congressman Nick Langworthy issued a statement on the plan, saying, “Today, I was proud to vote for the Limit Save Grow Act that is the first step to breaking Washington’s addiction to spending and getting our nation’s finances back on track. This plan is a responsible, reasonable framework for spending reforms that the American people are demanding. It’s time for President Biden to stop the games and come to the table to negotiate.”

Schumer said the cuts in the House’s plan are not abstract including the possibility that 2 million New York residents could lose Medicaid coverage, “It slashes federal heating assistance, LIHEAP, that upstate families and seniors use to stay safe. We lose close to a billion dollars in LIHEAP and would reduce the average benefit a household would receive by $400. New York does better with LIHEAP than any other state and it would hurt us dramatically.”

Schumer said there could be a $144 million cut in SNAP benefits for New Yorkers which would affect 53,000 residents in the state.

Moody’s analytics warned that “dramatic” cuts to government spending in the House Republican’s plan would spark a 2024 recession that costs the economy 2.6 million jobs and lifts the unemployment rate near 6%.

A nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis released Tuesday showed the Republican plan would reduce federal deficits by $4.8 trillion over the decade if the proposed changes were enacted into law.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Chautauqua County’s congressman has no regrets about voting against extending the federal debt ceiling during a vote last week in Washington.

Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) was among an estimated 200 house members who voted against the extension, which allows the U.S. to continue to borrow money to pay off its debts.

During a media conference call on Monday, Reed said the extension shows that Congress has failed to hold the line on the national debt and in turn, the interest payment on the debt is set to quadruple within the decade.

Reed highlighted a recent report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projecting the interest payment on the national debt will nearly quadruple in the next ten years – to $880 billion by 2024. In comparison, Reed said that the country spent about $670 billion on defense in 2012 and roughly $768 billion on all of Social Security in the same year.

“So you are talking in about having to make a debt payment of $880 billion. In relationship, look at what we’re spending in all for Social Security and look at what we’re spending for defense. That is why this debt has to be taken into consideration and we have to address it today, sooner rather than later,” Reed said.

He also said that if the country continues to go further into debt, it will prohibit private businesses from wanting to set up shop in the U.S.

“Think about the small business owner. Think about a large business, deciding to put a manufacturing facility in America,” Reed said. “If they don’t see a plan out of Washington to get this debt under control, don’t you think they’ll be concerned about making a long term investment that’s going to build that plant on American soil  because we don’t have our fiscal house in order in Washington? Who’s going to get left holding the bag? Hard working taxpayers.”

Prior to last week’s debt ceiling vote, Reed said he would be part of even “baby steps” toward reducing Washington spending and the debt. He added he went to Washington to change the status quo and get the debt under control and that a bill that fails to make any progress is a non-deal for him.

Just 28 House Republicans voted in favor of extending the debt ceiling, despite it being supported by House speaker John Boehner. The final vote was 221 members for, and 201 members against.

During a conference call with local media on Thursday afternoon, Reed stood by his decision to be among the 144 members of the House to vote against the spending measure, which extends government spending for next three months, but does nothing to resolve the fundamental issues of spending and deficits that divide Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

Reed said as far as he was concerned, the bill did nothing to address the real financial problems that the nation is facing…

“I didn’t go to Washington DC to kick the can down the road,” Reed explained to regional media. “This question of our national debt – this question of our fiscal crisis, our debt crisis and our potential currency crisis needs to be dealt with. There was nothing, nothing, in the proposal [Wednesday night] that dealt with those issues. To me it was simply about saying, ‘We need to deal with this question now, sooner rather than later.'”

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

Reed also explained that he cast his “no vote” to express his frustration with congress and its inability to immediately address financial issues, even though it could have done so prior to Wednesday’s vote.

“There were opportunities to do at a minimum some spending reductions that we all agree upon and the honest proposal that we put together, in a bipartisan way,” Reed said. “There’s about $230 billion worth of spending reductions that the president has proposed in his own budget that Democrats had seemed to support and Republicans had seemed to support. So why don’t we at least do that which we agree? At a minimum, why don’t we end the special treatment for members of congress? That would have sent a signal to America that the culture of DC is changing and that’s something I was willing to support and would have voted for if it came to the floor of the House.”

Reed did say that as of Thursday, he’ll try to remain optimistic that some type of an agreement can be reached to address spending and deficits prior the January 15 deadline, but he also believes that the same differences that were present in the weeks building up to this most recent deadline will also still be present as lawmakers approach the new one at the start of 2014.