House and Senate conservatives preparing for debt ceiling fight

March 24, 2023

The House Freedom Caucus and Senate "Breakfast Club" members held a joint press conference to signal the beginning of their work on the debt ceiling and spending cuts, which they know will be a huge fight with Democrats and the White House.

"We're ready to go right now," Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) announced. "If the president wants to solve this, we're all here."

The Freedom Caucus has already released a blueprint for budget cuts that they are demanding in order to raise the debt ceiling limit. The cuts include rollbacks of a number of Democrat priorities like student loan bailouts and and the massive increase in IRS funding.

“All we are saying is, 'Hey, let’s check under the couch cushions, maybe. Let’s see if we can find some money hanging around somewhere that doesn’t need to be spent on some wants and put it toward some actual needs of the federal government,'” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) said.

The White House responded to the demands by calling the Republican plan a "five-alarm fire."

“To the press secretary over at the White House, who said our plan is to create a five-alarm fire, you’re lying,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) said in response. “I wish he would just take an economics course because spending money the way Joe Biden wants to, that is the five-alarm fire.”