Speaker McCarthy unveils $1.5T debt bill, challenging Biden

by LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has unveiled a sweeping package that would raise the nation’s debt limit by $1.5 trillion into next year. The Republican leader announced the bill Wednesday just as President Joe Biden was preparing to deliver a speech in Maryland. The 320-page package imposes a long list of Republican priorities, including new spending caps, work requirements for recipients of government aid and others that are sure to be nonstarters for the White House. It has almost no chance of becoming law. But the Republican speaker is using the legislation as a strategic move, a starting point to draw Biden into negotiations that the White House has, so far, refused to to have over the debt crisis.