Rep. Clyburn calls McCarthy’s debt limit legislation ‘dead on arrival’ in Senate

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the assistant House Democratic leader, said the debt limit bill backed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will be “dead on arrival” in the Senate. 

Clyburn said Saturday in an interview on MSNBC that he does not believe the Lift, Save, Grow Act — which the House narrowly passed in a 217-215 vote on Wednesday — itself will bring President Biden to negotiate on raising the debt ceiling, but negotiations can start after the House bill is dead. 

“In fact, it may die somewhere around Statuary Hall before it ever gets on to the Senate,” Clyburn said. “So it will be dead on arrival, and then, that’s when the negotiations start. The sensible people in the Senate will be sitting down with the White House.”

“They’ll hammer out something,” he added.

The South Carolina Democrat said the negotiators will come up with a proposal that “makes sense” for the American people and the White House. 

He added that McCarthy knows the House bill that passed is a “joke” that was merely pushed through just to get it out of the body. 

The bill passed the House with all but four Republicans — Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.) and Tim Burchett (Tenn.) — voting in favor and all Democrats voting against it. 

The legislation would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion or through the end of next March, whichever comes first, in exchange for a wide range of cuts in government spending. 

It would limit spending growth to 1 percent every year for the next decade, cap federal funding during the fiscal appropriations process at fiscal year 2022 levels and end the Biden administration’s student debt relief actions. It would also increase work requirements for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as “food stamps.”

Republicans do not expect the House bill to become law but hope it will drive Biden to negotiate with them on a deal to pair raising the debt limit with spending cuts in order to avoid a default. Biden has called for a clean bill to just raise the debt ceiling — which experts say could come as early as the summer.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the bill an “extremist, right-wing agenda” on Wednesday. 

“The president can no longer ignore by not negotiating,” McCarthy told reporters after the bill passed. “Sen. Schumer, if he thinks he’s got a plan, put it on the floor, see if you can pass it, and then we can go to conference.”

“But now, the president can no longer put this economy in jeopardy,” the House Speaker said.