The House narrowly passed a bill Wednesday to raise the debt ceiling and cut government spending across the board. The party-line vote gives House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) the “opportunity to go and negotiate with the President,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said, according to Politico.
But President Biden and Senate Democrats want to see a clean debt limit bill without deep spending cuts attached. Biden has said he would veto the House’s bill if it made through the Senate, which is unlikely to happen.
Some veterans groups have been particularly vocal about the House bill’s cuts to veterans care. VA estimated it would lose 87,000 staff members under the bill’s spending cuts and that it would have to slow down VA benefits, as Stars and Stripes reported.
The Treasury Department says the U.S. will hit its current debt ceiling this summer.
Politico photo by Francis Chung