Will Congress and the White House Reach a Deal on the Debt Ceiling?
AllSides Summary
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is pushing for controls on federal spending as a condition of raising the debt ceiling, but the White House has said it would not negotiate.
Latest Developments: White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that Congress must raise the debt ceiling “without conditions” to avoid defaulting on the government’s debt, adding, “There’s been a bipartisan cooperation when it comes to lifting the debt ceiling, and that’s how it should be.” McCarthy rejected that idea on Tuesday, saying a non-conditional increase was “totally off the table.”
For Context: On Friday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that “Failure to meet the government’s obligations would cause irreparable harm to the U.S. economy, the livelihoods of all Americans, and global financial stability.” Yellen said the U.S. would hit the current $31.4 trillion debt limit on Thursday, January 19, but the Treasury could use emergency measures to prevent a default until early June. However, House Republicans see this as an opportunity to rein in deficit spending; talking to reporters, McCarthy compared the practice to a child using a credit card.
How the Media Covered It: News and analysis of the upcoming debt ceiling fight was common across the news media, often describing House Republicans as breaking with “tradition.” While some coverage focused on House Republicans and the White House, other coverage focused on financial institutions’ sometimes-pessimistic reactions.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
House Republicans gear up for a debt ceiling fight with the White House and Senate Democrats
The Republican-controlled House has planted the seeds for a debt-ceiling showdown, with Speaker Kevin McCarthy endorsing a push by his hard-liners to demand spending cuts as part of any extension of the country’s borrowing authority.
The political divide is deep and the stakes are high.
Ultraconservative lawmakers insist they don’t want the country to default, but their conditions for raising the debt limit are unlikely to be accepted by the Democratic-led Senate or President Joe Biden.
From the Left
Debt ceiling fight is just getting started 
We're in the first inning of another seemingly inevitable debt limit fight.
Driving the news: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed Congressional leaders Friday that the federal government would likely hit the debt limit on Thursday. As a result, Treasury will have to take "extraordinary measures" to keep paying creditors who own the U.S. government's bonds.
These measures are things like running down Treasury's cash balances and delaying making payments to certain government pension funds, to make sure there's enough money to pay bondholders.
The big picture: Votes to raise the debt ceiling — once...
From the Right
Debt ceiling standoff: McCarthy rejects Democrats in major break with tradition
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is standing firm in his commitment against raising the debt ceiling without budget cuts as the Treasury Department prepares to start extraordinary measures this week to keep the country from defaulting on its debt.
Pairing a raise of the federal borrowing limit with a decrease in spending is one of the deals McCarthy cut with the conservative wing of his conference in exchange for its backing in his speakership bid. The Democrats are demanding a clean increase in order to keep paying expenses, and the two sides have until about June to work...
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