McCarthy: We Will Not Lift Debt Ceiling Without Spending Reform

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has told reporters that that he believes the debt ceiling must be lifted, "but you have to cut spending."

• McCarthy: "We will not pass a clean debt ceiling here without some form of spending reform. So there will never be a clean one."
• McCarthy also revealed that he will hold additional meetings with President Biden saying, “I got to see him at the Prayer Breakfast [this morning]; he sat next to me … and said it was a very good meeting.”
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters earlier it "wasn't easy" but Democrats worked with the Trump administration to raise the debt ceiling.
• Schumer: "Playing games with the debt ceiling is dangerous, destabilizing, and would spell disaster for every single American... The last thing we should be doing in Congress is using the debt ceiling as a political bargaining chip."
• Schumer said that any spending considerations should be passed via the budget process and "shouldn’t be tied to the debt ceiling."
• Schumer also said he and Biden are on the “same page,” and all Democrats “have the same exact position, which is to pass the debt ceiling clean.”