The White House on Friday called for the debt limit to be raised without conditions, laying down a marker ahead of what is likely to be a bruising fight with House Republicans in the coming months.
“We believe, when it comes to the debt limit, it has been done in a bipartisan way over the years and decades. And it should be done in a bipartisan way. And it should be done without conditions. That is important here,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre’s comments came shortly after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to warn the U.S. is projected to reach its roughly $31.4 trillion borrowing limit in less than a week, and the department would have to soon begin taking “extraordinary measures” to buy time for Congress to avoid default.
Those measures would likely buy lawmakers until early June to reach a deal, Yellen said.
Republicans are expected to use the looming debt default to try to secure cuts or reforms to government spending. A push among several conservatives for promised spending cuts was central to the fight last week over electing McCarthy Speaker, though many in the GOP have tried to distance themselves from talk of cutting Social Security or Medicare, two popular programs.