Texas Republicans in the U.S. House are working with their divided party to eke out a path forward on raising the debt limit.
The stakes are high. The Biden administration urged Congress last month to swiftly raise the debt ceiling in order to pay off interest on its debts and to finance federal programs already approved by Congress. Failure to do so could mean the country defaulting on its debt — which it has never done before — and gravely damaging faith in the country’s economy and assets.
Defense spending has steadily increased under both Democratic and Republican presidents and Congresses. Last year’s federal spending bill included a 10% increase in defense spending, growth that defense hawks in the Republican conference, like McCaul and Granger, assert is necessary with growing threats from China, Russia and Iran. The bill included about $45 billion in aid for Ukraine and NATO in a bid to stave off further aggression from Russia.
Granger’s committee determines how much money should go to individual government programs, and although she opposed the spending bill because of its high spending on non-defense priorities, the Fort Worth Republican is a major supporter of defense spending, including manufacturing in her North Texas district.
Roy told The Texas Tribune his personal preference would be to lower all discretionary spending — other than defense — to levels from before the pandemic. He would not touch mandatory spending for entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security benefits. Doing so would be politically fraught with Republican voters, many of whom rely on the social spending benefits.
“This is a little like saying, I’m going to go on a diet but I’m not going to cut out cheesecake, cookies and all sorts of sweets,” he added.Republicans have long been fearful that the ballooning national debt — much of which is taken out to pay off past loans — is creating an unsustainable burden for future generations. They view the impending debt limit as the perfect chance to force Democrats to get on board with provisions to rein in the deficit.
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Texas defense hawks urge Congress away from military funding cuts to raise the debt ceilingTexas Republicans in the U.S. House are working with their divided party to eke out a path forward on raising the debt limit.
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