Peace Garden News

BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Tony Perkins on Family Research Council’s Washington Watch to discuss debt limit negotiations. Excerpts and full video are below.

On House GOP Debt Limit Legislation:
“People should have a clear understanding of how reasonable Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans have been in their offering. They've actually passed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling.

“Yes, some of the conditions that go along with it are going to be hard for the Left to swallow, but they're not exactly radical conditions. Things like discretionary cap of 2022 spending as the new starting point, and then a small 1% incremental growth throughout the next several years – 1% growth is not a cut, that's growth. Some modest work requirements for able-bodied people who are on government assistance programs… Why not help lift people up, rather than keep them under the thumb of the government?”

On Negotiating, Compromising for a Durable Outcome:

“Republicans in the United States Senate are standing 100% with the Republicans in the United States House of Representatives and Kevin McCarthy. We are cheering him on. He knows we have his back. He has drawn the line in the sand and the ball is in Joe Biden's court. If the two of them don't agree on something, then they're not going to get the rest of us to agree on something. The way I think it plays out is that Joe Biden wakes up and realizes he's playing chicken with the wrong guy, and it's time to roll up our shirt sleeves.

“Whatever they come up with clearly isn't going to be something every Republican loves, and it's not going to be something every Democrat loves. But we have a divided government and a wonderful opportunity to test this magnificent system our Founders gave us, and find both common ground and then compromise.”

'Not Raising the Debt Limit Doesn't Create a Government Shutdown:'

“A lot of people conflate raising the debt ceiling with a government shutdown. Not raising the debt ceiling doesn't create a government shutdown, it just forces the government to only spend the money they're taking in every day. What a novel approach that would be.

 “Before people think that's going to be some catastrophic crisis, notice we're in a crisis: we have high inflation; high interest rates; we have open borders; we have a supply chain crisis that's squelching our economy. And, we have anemic economic growth – 1.1% the last quarter, probably heading to recession – bank failures… we've got plenty of problems. How about just staying within our means for a while?”

Original source can be found here.