Column: When Kevin McCarthy’s spending cuts get spelled out, even Republicans balk
LA TimesWhether you’re for the demand by House Republicans for deep spending cuts as a condition for raising the nation’s debt ceiling or you’re against it, there are some things you should know in assessing their gambit. Perhaps the single most important fact is this: While Speaker Kevin McCarthy likes to claim that his debt limit bill would break Democrats’ “addiction to spending,” the Republicans — whose own appetite for spending is well established — would subject just 13% of federal spending to the knife. Those bills have to fill in the gory details of the spending cuts that Republicans left unidentified when they passed McCarthy’s debt limit bill last month. Opinion Calmes: Kevin McCarthy’s doomed debt ceiling deal The handcuffs that House Republicans have put on Speaker McCarthy will make it almost impossible for him to sign off on a debt ceiling compromise. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the committee, got her email canceling the meetings at 11:53 p.m. She called it “a sign of unraveling” among Republicans, given that the cuts they were finally specifying “are so staggering.” McCarthy’s debt-limit bill calls for trimming 9% from the $1.6 trillion that currently goes to annual discretionary spending.