CHICAGO (CBS) – Lawmakers in Washington have just one week to raise the debt ceiling or risk the first US debt default in history.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Joe Biden are optimistic that a deal can be reached in time. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) is pushing McCarthy.
“Speaker McCarthy in Washington is playing political poker with other people’s money,” Durbin said. “What I mean by that is his failure to reach an agreement on the budget in Washington and his threats to see America default on its debts for the first time in history are beginning to be felt across America “.
For his part, McCarthy said he is “trying to be very reasonable about this. We have to spend less this year than we spent last year. We have to cut red tape so we can build things in America again. We should save money, money. that we appropriated like in the COVID funds that have been sitting there… They should come back.”
The biggest point is the expense. Democrats want to freeze spending at existing levels, while Republicans want cuts.
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