U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Breitbart News in no uncertain terms that the House of Representatives this year will not pass a clean debt ceiling hike without spending cuts and that the House will not raise taxes.
“The one thing I firmly believe,” McCarthy said, is “We’re not going to raise taxes and we’re not going to pass a clean debt ceiling.”
“I told the president we have to spend less money,” McCarthy added.
McCarthy said that without serious reforms to discretionary spending the U.S. could be on the brink of serious financial calamity.
“Every great society collapses when they over-extend themselves,” McCarthy told Breitbart News.
Such a dire warning from the nation’s highest-ranking elected Republican came just hours before Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed on Friday, setting off fears of a broader financial crisis possibly looming in the United States. SVB’s collapse came in large part as a result of high and persistent inflation. In an attempt to tame inflation, the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates rapidly, which undercut the bank’s long-term investments in lower-interest rate government-backed securities.
McCarthy’s comments were taped last Wednesday during an exclusive long-form on-camera interview with Breitbart News in the ceremonial speaker’s office in the Capitol, the latest in the On The Hill in-depth video series. McCarthy, in the hourlong interview, covered many topics including his release of the January 6 U.S. Capitol surveillance tapes, corruption investigations into President Joe Biden’s family business operation, the wide open U.S. southern border, and the rising threat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
While McCarthy has made it clear he wants serious cuts to non-essential discretionary government spending in order to slow inflation—he does not intend to cut Medicare or Social Security—he was not specific in this interview about exactly how much in terms of such cuts he was looking for.
“I do not predetermine what that is, but what I laid out with the president is: We’re going to spend less money,” McCarthy said when asked if there is a specific dollar amount worth of cuts that would win his approval for a debt ceiling deal.
