House Republicans Pass Debt Limit Bill, But Schumer Says It's 'DOA'

House Republicans passed their "Limit, Save, Grow Act" plan on Wednesday detailing what actions they want to see before agreeing to a raise the federal debt limit through March 31, 2024, or until the debt increases by $1.5 trillion.

The bill, which passed 217-215 along party lines, was the product of weeks of negotiations between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and factions of his own party who argued that the proposal went too far in certain areas and not far enough in others. In the end, four Republicans still voted against the measure.

For months, McCarthy has demanded that President Joe Biden meets with him to negotiate a plan to cut the nearly $31.5 trillion federal deficit in order to secure a GOP commitment to raise the debt limit. Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, responded by saying, "Show us your plan." Now that the plan is here, Schumer said it's dead on arrival in the Senate.

"These measures, and they're truly extreme, have no place in a debate about avoiding default," Schumer said during his Wednesday speech on the Senate floor. "I urge Speaker McCarthy to stop wasting any more time on this DOA, dead on arrival, bill. Time is running out for Congress to work together to avoid catastrophe."

At the heart of the measure is a call to cut much of federal spending to last year's levels. Subsequent budget growth would be capped at a 1 percent annual increase over the next decade. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that it would save $3.2 trillion.

The plan would also see Congress aim to recoup unspent COVID-19 relief funds, an amount totaling less than $80 billion. It also aims to roll back priorities of Biden's landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), seeking to nix $80 billion in funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and repeal certain IRA Green tax incentives.

The plan advances additional Republican priorities, including expediting new oil drilling projects and providing Congress greater power to review actions taken by the executive branch.

McCarthy's package also aims to stop the Biden administration's executive order canceling roughly $400 billion in student debt, which the U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule on this summer. The House GOP bill additionally seeks to raise work requirements for certain antipoverty programs.

In total, the CBO estimates that the bill would reduce the budget deficit by $4.8 trillion. In addition to the $3.2 trillion raised through discretionary spending caps, the CBO estimates a mandatory spending net decrease of $0.7 trillion, which would coincide with a $0.4 trillion increase in revenues and $0.5 trillion in debt interest savings.

Massachusetts Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren echoed Schumer's message when asked by Newsweek where she saw the bill's standing as a negotiation entry point, emphasizing that its status as "dead on arrival."

"This is not a negotiation proposal that the Republicans have given to us," she said. "What Republicans have done is continue to back off from the basic premise that the United States government pays its debts. We always have, and I hope we always will. It is a self-inflicted wound to do anything else."

Despite the stances of Schumer and Warren, one Republican contends that it doesn't matter all that much what Senate Democrats think. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the former GOP senate whip and an ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said the bill puts the pressure on Biden.

"I think it's more addressed to President Biden than it is to the Senate," Cornyn told Newsweek. "Once they've initiated the bill, I think it's now time for President Biden to respond."

Biden last met face-to-face with McCarthy on the debt limit in early February. Following that encounter, McCarthy left the White House telling reporters it was "a good first meeting." However, the two have not met face-to-face since, and the president recently expressed that he has no interest in negotiating on the issue.

"I'm happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended," Biden told reporters on Wednesday. "That's not negotiable."