Conservative Coalition: Debt Ceiling Approval Must Include Spending Reductions

Conservative groups in a recent open letter called on Congress to include spending reductions in any bill that would raise the debt ceiling.

The Conservative Action Project is a coalition that helps organize right-leaning groups such as the Family Research Council, Citizens United, The Center for Urban Renewal and Education, among others. The coalition released an open letter last week calling on Congress to "not continually raise the debt ceiling without commensurate spending reductions and reforms."

The coalition calls President Joe Biden's push to raise the debt ceiling "unconscionable, given the amount of debt we are already saddling onto future generations of Americans and the exorbitant and harmful level of interest payments with which current taxpayers are already burdened."

The letter states: "Any negotiated increase in the debt ceiling must be accompanied by substantial reductions in federal spending now — in the current fiscal year — AND in each of the subsequent nine fiscal years, at a minimum. The spending reductions must be real (as opposed to accounting gimmicks) and very difficult to stop, once enacted into law."

The signatories conclude: "Continuing on the federal government's current fiscal trajectory would be cruel to the American people, including those not yet born. We hope you will realize and lean into the grandeur of this moment and work to implement fiscal solutions that are truly meaningful and lasting, so that the nation's public debt does not keep increasing and that hitting the debt ceiling does not continue as a regular practice of the federal government."

The offices of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

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