Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the debt limit:
“Four months ago, Speaker McCarthy invited President Biden to start negotiating an agreement to preserve the full faith and credit of the United States and begin to get our nation’s financial house in order.
“The Speaker stood ready to discuss a responsible way forward. But for weeks on end, the Biden Administration and Senate Democratic Leader insisted that there would be no discussion of reasonable reforms to federal spending.
“Washington Democrats wanted a green light to spend more taxpayer dollars, with no strings attached. Well, the people’s House had other plans.
“Speaker McCarthy and his team committed to what I said repeatedly was the only way to get an outcome. Just as with seven of the last ten debt limit agreements in recent history, House Republicans focused on reaching a bipartisan agreement to put reasonable caps on federal spending.
“The Speaker’s deal secures reductions in discretionary spending. But this topline achievement is just part of the story:
“House Republicans also succeeded in clawing back $28 billion dollars in unspent COVID emergency funds. They eliminated this year’s budget for hiring new IRS agents. And they expanded work requirements to put more Americans on sustainable paths out of poverty.
“They put an important down payment on permitting reform by imposing a shot clock on the costly bureaucratic review that hamstrings infrastructure projects. And they forced the executive branch to start balancing the cost of new regulations with corresponding cuts – a move that would have saved taxpayers $1.5 trillion dollars in just the past two years.
“Last fall, Mr. President, the American people elected a divided government. After two years of total Democrat control – two years of radical spending and runaway inflation – they decided to send a Republican majority to the people’s House. They decided to require that President Biden and Washington Democrats start working with Republicans on the biggest issues facing our country.
“Now, divided government means negotiated deals. It means nobody gets everything they want. But in this case, it means the American people got a whole lot more progress toward fiscal sanity than Washington Democrats wanted to give them.
“Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans deserve our thanks. This spring, they passed the only viable legislation that both preserved our nation’s full faith and credit and made real progress toward getting federal spending under control.
“House Republicans’ unity forced President Biden to do his job. It’s that simple.
“And now, Congress will vote on legislation that locks in that important progress.
“Republicans have a tremendous opportunity to take on an existential challenge facing our economy and future generations of Americans. We have a chance to start bringing Washington Democrats’ reckless spending to heel.
“Soon, it will be the Senate’s turn to put this historic agreement on President Biden’s desk. Let’s not pass up our shot.”