House Republicans in the Freedom Caucus are laying out a steep set of demands for negotiations to resolve the debt ceiling crisis, escalating tensions as GOP leaders and the White House struggle to find common ground on budget proposals.

The hard-line lawmakers released their list of demands during a press conference on Friday, targeting a number of Democratic-led proposals as being “wasteful” and overtly partisan. Their plan calls for spending cuts on an array of issues that, if met, would open the door for caucus members to “consider” raising the debt ceiling.

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“If you want to save America, you have to shrink Washington. You must attack the bureaucracy,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ). “This plan put forth by the Freedom Caucus today is a blueprint, a baseline. It should not be the end-all; it is a baseline to shrinking Washington and not just growing America, but saving America.”

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Caucus members included an exhaustive list of demands, such as ending student loan bailout programs, rescinding unspent COVID-19 funds, and repealing increased funding meant to go toward the Internal Revenue Service that was included in President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Lawmakers also seek to cap discretionary funding over the next decade by implementing a maximum top-line number at the current fiscal year’s level while allowing for 1% growth. By doing this, caucus members say it would allow Congress to cut spending and save nearly $3 trillion.

“This enables Congress to use the appropriations process to address the many abuses and disasters caused by the Biden administration, such as the chaos at the southern border, COVID vaccine mandates and discrimination policies, and the unconstitutional ‘pistol brace’ ATF rule,” caucus members said in a letter detailing their list of demands. “Grow the economy by enacting major policy changes and reforms to the wasteful, woke, and weaponized federal bureaucracy.”

The demands come just one day after Biden released his budget proposal for the next fiscal year, which requests $6.8 trillion to go toward his highest legislative priorities. That top-line number has angered Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have hit the president for perpetuating Washington’s “spending problem.”

It also coincides with stalled negotiations between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on addressing the debt ceiling crisis ahead of a looming summer deadline.

The United States hit its debt ceiling on Jan. 19, raising fears of a default. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her agency would take “extraordinary measures” to prevent the country from defaulting on its obligations. Still, the department will only have a few months before those measures are exhausted.

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McCarthy first met with Biden in January to begin negotiations on the debt ceiling. However, that meeting ended without a binding agreement as the White House remains adamant it will not discuss federal spending until the borrowing limit is lifted.

Meanwhile, McCarthy has drawn his own line, saying that spending cuts are required. However, his party remains split over which programs to ax or pare back, putting McCarthy in a difficult position as he navigates his first major leadership test since taking the helm as speaker in January.