North Shore Louisiana News

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  On April 26, 2023, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), joined Republican Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), Congresswoman Young Kim (R-CA), and Congresswoman Michelle Steel (R-CA) at a press conference to discuss House Republicans’ plan to address the looming debt limit crisis. Leader Scalise called for President Biden to finally come to the negotiating table and outlined how commonsense measures included in the plan, such as work requirements, will bolster critical programs like Social Security that suffered under the reckless policies of the Biden Administration.   

Leader Scalise's remarks:

“This is a critically important week for the future direction of our country. For too long, and especially over the last two years, we've seen Washington go on a spending spree unlike anything in our nation's history. [President] Biden has maxed out the nation's credit card.

“And now at this moment – where the credit card is maxed out – [President] Biden has gone into hiding, trying to run out the clock and create a debt crisis, demanding not that we address the spending problem that maxed out the credit card but, believe it or not, [President] Biden is demanding that he get another card to go max out.

“No family in America would run their household that way. And frankly, I think when you look at the polls and see how low [President] Biden's numbers are, nobody in America thinks that this is the responsible way for the Commander-in-chief to lead this country.

“But if [President] Biden won't lead, House Republicans will. And that's why you will see us pass a bill this week to address the debt ceiling, but also – at the same time – to address the spending problem that brought us to this moment.

“I think people are hungry for this moment. They're hungry for this kind of leadership. 

“You’ve seen this from Speaker McCarthy, [Chair] Jody Arrington – whose bill it is – to all of us on this leadership team who have been working for weeks and months, with all of our members representing every part of our conference. Anybody willing to bring ideas to the table, and there have been some really good ideas, and if you look at this package, it represents the most commonsense, straightforward approach to addressing the spending problem that got us here as we confront the debt ceiling.

“Think about this: basic work requirements. You know, the voters of Wisconsin, just a few weeks ago, were asked this question: should people have to try to find work in order to get welfare benefits? Did you  know that 79.9 percent of Wisconsin voters – just a few weeks ago on a statewide ballot – said ‘absolutely yes.’ 

“People understand that at a time when every worker – every small business is looking for workers, President Biden is paying billions of dollars to pay people not to work. So when we say, ‘Let's have some basic work requirements,’ we're not talking about small numbers. It's over hundreds of billions of dollars of savings that the taxpayers would get. That single mom that's working two or three jobs right now to make ends meet under this tough economy, she doesn't want to have to pay for somebody who's sitting at home [not] working who is fully able-bodied. 

“And the important thing of bringing some of these important, commonsense measures, like work requirements, is: not only does it save taxpayers money who are working hard. It also helps shore up programs like Social Security. We’ll be able to put tens of billions of dollars back into Social Security, a program that Joe Biden has undermined with his reckless policies. We strengthen those programs by putting basic work requirements back in place. 

“These aren't new ideas. These are ideas that Bill Clinton agreed with a Republican Congress to do back in the 1990s, and it worked, and it will work again. These are proven solutions to this nation's spending problem. And so we're proud to bring this bill forward. We're proud to get this bill passed this week. But it's long past time that President Biden stop hiding. Stop trying to run the clock out. It's been over two months, since he said he would sit down with Speaker McCarthy again and meet, and yet he's refused to do that. You now have a growing drumbeat of Democrats who are saying that it's time for President Biden to sit down with Speaker McCarthy. 

“The country knows we can't stay on this unsustainable path, and if [President] Biden is not willing to lead and do something about it, House Republicans are. That starts this week.” 

Original Source can be found here.