House Republicans will start considering a plan to raise the nation’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit when lawmakers return to the U.S. Capitol this week, while the Senate will grapple with a key vacancy that is holding up President Biden’s judicial nominees.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is putting together legislation that pairs a one-year increase in the debt ceiling with spending cuts and other spending limits that are aimed at winning the support of his conservative rank-and-file.
The proposal isn’t ready for floor consideration, but some Republicans say the House GOP should take up the measure this month, well ahead of a summer deadline imposed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said the government will run out of ways to pay the nation’s bills as early as June without Congress granting more borrowing authority.
Mr. McCarthy said he’s been seeking a meeting with Mr. Biden to negotiate a deal, but so far the White House has not agreed. White House officials have said repeatedly they won’t negotiate an increase in the debt limit and that Congress should agree to an increase without stipulations.
Mr. Biden earlier this month blamed the debt ceiling standoff on “extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress” who, he said, “are threatening to wreak havoc on our economy with debt limit brinkmanship.”
Across the Capitol, Senate Republicans will welcome back Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been absent for six weeks after suffering a concussion in a fall.
Mr. McConnell announced his return on Twitter on Thursday amid a media report that his deputies were preparing for a possible leadership election to replace him. Aides dismissed the story and said Mr. McConnell, 81, is not retiring. Top GOP lawmakers report Mr. McConnnell, to the contrary, is quite eager to return to work.
“I am looking forward to returning to the Senate on Monday,” Mr. McConnell, of Kentucky, tweeted. “We’ve got important business to tackle and big fights to win for Kentuckians and the American people.”
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, will attempt to win GOP approval to temporarily replace ailing Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where more than a dozen nominees have been stalled due to her absence.
Republican sources told The Washington Times the Senate GOP is not inclined to give the Democrats the green light to sub in another Democrat on the panel. Instead, they want more clarity about when, or if, the California Democrat plans to return to the Senate.
Shuffling the committee membership would require either the unanimous consent of the entire Senate, or subsequently, the support of at least 10 Republicans in a floor vote. Neither appeared likely as of Friday.
The 89-year-old Feinstein has been absent from the Senate since March, when she was diagnosed with shingles.
Ms. Feinstein said in a statement that her return to Washington is delayed by complications stemming from her shingles diagnosis and said she has requested that Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, to replace her on the Judiciary Committee temporarily.
Concerns about her ability to carry out her job have been mounting for months.
Ms. Feinstein, who joined the Senate in 1992, announced earlier this year that she won’t run for another term. Some Democrats are now calling on her to resign before her term ends in January, 2025.
Among those seeking an early Feinstein exit is Rep. Ro Khanna, who is working to help fellow Californian Rep. Barbara Lee win the Democratic primary to replace Ms. Feinstein. If Ms. Feinstein resigns, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, will appoint a temporary replacement and previously said he’d pick a black woman.
In the meantime, without GOP support to replace Ms. Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee, the pressure on her to resign is likely to increase.
There are 14 nominees awaiting approval from the panel, and at least four of them probably cannot advance without a Democratic majority that is needed through filling the vacancy on the panel left by Ms. Feinstein’s absence.
Senate panels allow voting by proxy, but such a vote cannot break a tie. Without Ms. Feinstein, the panel would be deadlocked 10-10 on several nominees who lack bipartisan support.
A spokesperson for the panel did not respond to a question about why the committee has not advanced the many nominees who have bipartisan support and would not need Ms. Feinstein’s vote.
Senate Republicans will also be involved in the debt ceiling negotiations, but will play a secondary role to the Republican-led House.
Mr. McCarthy must produce a plan that will win over nearly everyone in his conference, because Democrats are almost guaranteed to uniformly oppose the proposed spending cuts, and the GOP has a four-seat advantage.
Mr. McCarthy’s plan, which he will outline in a speech on Monday morning, calls for clawing back COVID-19 spending, ending Mr. Biden’s student loan bailout and implementing the GOP’s recently passed energy package that would boost oil and gas production, according to those familiar with an early draft.
Even the most conservative GOP lawmakers want to strike a deal with the White House and avoid a standoff over the debt limit, but members of the conservative Freedom Caucus are likely to seek additional cuts in the measure.
“We are encouraged by the progress House Republicans are making to find a compromise in the debt-ceiling debate,” said Adam Brandon, president of the conservative FreedomWorks. “Congress has an opportunity to seize the moment and get our reckless spending under control, and it would do well for President Biden and Senate Democrats to come to the table and make a full-hearted effort to come to an agreement.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.