Centrists float fallback plan if Biden-McCarthy debt limit talks falter

A bipartisan group of House centrists is floating a fallback plan to prevent a government default later in the year as the debt ceiling battle between President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has yielded no breakthroughs.

The Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of 64 moderate lawmakers split evenly between the parties, has been quietly crafting a budget strategy — short- and long-term — since at least February, when the debt ceiling debate began in earnest. 

A “framework” of that proposal, released on Wednesday, reveals a bare-bones outline of the group’s fiscal wish list, which features a suspension of the debt limit through the end of the calendar year — to stave off a government default while Congress negotiates its 2024 budget — and the creation of an outside commission designed to rein in deficit spending and reduce the country’s $31.5 trillion debt over the long haul.