House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) said Wednesday that the length of the spending limits demanded by Republicans as part of any deal on the debt ceiling should match the time frame that the government’s borrowing authority is expanded.
“It seems to me that if there is a resolution that involves a spending freeze, that spending freeze should also coincide with the time that the debt ceiling is suspended,” Jeffries told reporters on Capitol Hill.
The question of the timeline has been one of the main points of confusion that has prevented an agreement on how to expand the government’s borrowing authority and avoid a default, which the administration says could come as soon as 1 of June
In legislation passed last month, GOP leaders capped spending in fiscal year 2024 at 2022 levels, with a 1 percent increase in discretionary programs over the next decade. His debt-ceiling proposal was much shorter: It would extend the government’s borrowing authority by $1.5 trillion, or until next March, whichever comes first.
Both provisions have been rejected by President Biden, who is leading talks with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in search of an elusive deal.
Biden’s counteroffer included a spending freeze at current levels through 2024, with the caps lifted after 2025.
“Ten years of spending caps is not a beginning. Period. Period,” Jeffries said Wednesday. “There are no Democratic votes in the House of Representatives for this to happen.”
Jeffries has not been in the room during the talks, but he updates regularly and his comments tend to reflect the administration’s positions.
