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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sen. Mike Lee is leading a coalition of 43 Senate Republicans who say they'll refuse to raise the debt ceiling without budget cuts.
In a public letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Saturday, Lee and his colleagues said Senate Republicans are "united behind the House Republican conference in support of spending cuts and structural budget reform as a starting point for negotiations on the debt ceiling."
Although the Senate is narrowly controlled by Democrats, the 43 Republicans are enough to filibuster a vote on the debt ceiling bill passed by the House late last month, and Lee said they plan to do just that.
"We've now got 43 Republicans who have signed a letter ... to refuse to bring debate to a close on any clean debt ceiling increase bill," Lee told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. "We've now got more than enough to stop exactly the kind of legislation that (President) Joe Biden wants. What that means is that the White House is going to have to come to the table and enter into real talks with the House Republicans, starting with (House Speaker Kevin McCarthy)."
Biden is expected to meet with McCarthy Tuesday to discuss the debt ceiling, and has previously called on Congress to raise the debt ceiling without conditions.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. could default on its payments as soon as June 1 if Congress doesn't address the debt limit, meaning it could be unable to pay military service members or dole out Social Security benefits. The U.S. has never defaulted before, and Moodys Analytics projects that a default could trigger an economic collapse akin to the 2008 financial crisis, with the loss of more than 7 million jobs and $10 trillion in household wealth.
"Our economy is in free fall due to unsustainable fiscal policies," Lee's letter reads. "This trajectory must be addressed with fiscal reforms. Moreover, recent Treasury projections have reinforced the urgency of addressing the debt ceiling. The House has taken a responsible first step in coming to the table with their proposals. It is imperative that the president now do the same."
Lee said the letter from Republicans gives McCarthy more bargaining power heading into negotiations with Biden and Democratic leaders, and tweeted that "ignoring Republicans is no longer an option for the White House."
And while Biden doesn't have the votes to overrule McCarthy's plan in the Senate, Republicans don't have the support to pass their plan either, so the talks could be headed for an 11th-hour standoff.
With the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Lee said his caucus str intent on holding course.
"As I've spoken to senator after senator putting this letter together, I've seen a degree of resolve that we haven't seen in a long time," he told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" on Sunday. "So, we've told President Biden, 'Look, we'll work with you, but it's not going to be free.'"
The House Republicans' plan, also called the "Limit, Save, Grow Act," would reduce spending by $4.8 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill would reduce spending by halting Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans, repealing green energy tax cuts passed in the Inflation Reduction Act, and ending $80 billion in additional funding for the Internal Revenue Service.
But the bill is less clear about how Congress would achieve around an 18% cut in discretionary spending between now and 2033. McCarthy has already promised not to cut spending for defense and veterans' medical care — the two largest programs in the discretionary budget — and homeland security.
Without touching those categories, the New York Times estimates the bill will result in an average reduction of 51% across spending for the remaining programs, including education, health and human services, transportation and agriculture.
Moodys Analytics projects that the reduction in government spending proposed by the House Republican plan would tip the U.S. into recession in 2024, eliminating 2.6 million jobs. The report says there would be "no meaningful macroeconomic fallout" to a "clean" debt ceiling increase.
While he didn't offer an exact timeline, when asked when the Senate might approve a debt ceiling increase, Lee said, "It should happen soon."
"We should act on this very, very quickly, with the so-called X-date approaching," he told Bartiromo. "I would love it if we got it done this week, but it needs to include reforms ... because this will bring about exactly the kind of change we need in order to crawl out of this massive, burdensome debt that we're facing."
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney is one of the few Republicans not to sign Lee's letter, but he also urged negotiations on the debt ceiling last week, saying the White House should stop "stonewalling" and engage with Republicans on their plan.
