House GOP setting up election-year debt limit fight

Published

2 years ago

April 21, 2023

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House Republicans could be setting up another fight over the debt limit — this time, just months before the 2024 presidential election.

A sweeping, 320-page bill they unveiled this week would raise the debt ceiling, which caps how much money the Treasury can borrow to pay the country’s bills, through the end of next March or by $1.5 trillion, whichever happens first.

The move has already prompted fierce blowback from Democrats, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) dismissing the proposal as a non-starter and accusing Republicans of punting the issue.

“Amazingly, one of the few specifics [Speaker] McCarthy has presented is his terrible idea to kick the can down the road for just one year and undergo the same crisis again,” Schumer said this week. “Why would anyone want to undergo this crisis again, again and again?”

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) brushed off questions about the proposed timeline earlier this week, instead turning his focus to Democrats for refusing to come to the table to work out a deal that pairs raising the debt limit with fiscal reforms.

“I think the most important thing here is I would like to do this together and solve this problem, but they don’t want it, so we’re going to send a bill over to the Senate,” McCarthy told The Hill.

But other Republicans defended the timeline.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) told The Hill he prefers extending the debt limit “for a short period of time,” saying the move would allow House Republicans more leverage to shape fiscal policy in a divided Congress.

“You get another bite at the apple in a little while,” Harris told The Hill.

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the House’s largest GOP caucus, also said earlier this week shorter-term measures raising the debt limit could give the party more leeway for fiscal reforms. But he also said there’s other math at play behind the push.

“It really goes back to what you can actually get passed right now with 218 votes to be able to have that limit build your tail spinning right now,” Hern told The Hill. “It really is nothing about a second bite of the apple that’s not part of the calculus.”

“Look at the amount of money you would need to offset,” Hern said, adding the “debt ceiling would need to be raised to roughly $3.5 trillion to get beyond the election next year — and trying to find consensus on $3.5 trillion in savings might be very difficult.”

At the same time, some Republicans see their fight to curb spending as a winning issue, as the national debt hovers around the roughly $31.4 trillion threshold set by Congress more than a year ago.

“I think that spending is going to have a major impact on the presidential election because this inflation is hurting every American,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said ahead of the bill’s release earlier this week.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) also said then that he thinks Americans “will look at a list of the things that we’re asking for and say that it makes total sense.”

“Everyone should know by now our debt [is] a problem,” he told The Hill, but he also said he “doesn’t think it affects the election too much one way or the other.”

“I talk to regular voters,” he said, “they’re not having talks about the debt limit increase at the kitchen table.”

Still, partisan battles over the limit can garner significant public interest when cuts to popular programs are on the table.

Recent examples include the monthslong campaign by Democrats accusing Republicans of wanting to make cuts to popular programs like Social Security and Medicare — which GOP leaders adamantly vow is off the table in debt limit talks and weren’t included in the proposal rolled out this week.

And of course, there is the threat of a partisan fight triggering a federal default — an outcome Republicans in both chambers say won’t happen, but one experts warn could be catastrophic for the economy.

“It’s a risk because it’s a very volatile conference that McCarthy has to wrangle,” GOP strategist Rob Stutzman said. But he added that there’s a “pretty good upside for them as well.”

“If there’s a default, there’ll be massive blame,” he said, but he added: “I think the Republicans have wind in their sails and that there’s public opinion for them to use this as a leverage point on spending.”

Republicans saw an edge last year in polling when it comes to who Americans prefer on issues like the economy compared to Democrats.

Other polling has also shown a majority of Americans agree that the government is spending too much, with 60 percent of respondents saying so in an AP-NORC survey published in March.

But when pressed on where the government is spending too much, respondents in the poll, conducted between March 16-20, were largely divided in most areas. The only area where most voters — 69 percent — agreed is too costly is funding for assistance for other countries.

Coming in second was assistance for big cities, which 41 percent of respondents agreed the government spent too much on. And less than 30 percent of respondents said the same for areas like the military (29 percent), the environment (25 percent), aid for the poor (18 percent), child care assistance (16 percent), and education (12 percent).

The number of respondents who said spending for entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security was excessive was even smaller, with 10 percent and 7 percent, respectively, saying as much in the poll. Both programs account for a significant chunk of annual spending.

GOP leadership plans to vote on the debt ceiling bill next week. But its chances of passage are unclear as leaders still work to shore up necessary support.

Democrats and advocates have also come out against a slew of proposal attached to the newly unveiled debt ceiling bill. That includes portions targeting popular decisions by the Biden administration on student loans, beefed up work requirements for food stamps recipients and those on Medicaid, among a host of other partisan plans. Indiana Gov. Holcomb signs bill making machine gun ‘switch’ illegal Former WWE wrestler charged with theft of millions from Mississippi welfare

The bill is very unlikely to pass the Democratic-led Senate as it stands. And though there is also support among Republicans in the Senate, they also acknowledge the final bill will ultimately need the backing of both parties to secure passage.

“It’s what he can get done, and it’s what the president would accept,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said, when discussing the proposed election-year timeline and the impact another debt limit fight slated for early 2024 would have on the presidential race.

“That’s the reason why I say let them fight it out first, because clearly the President is going to have an interest in the presidential cycle,” Rounds said. “And most certainly the Speaker has an interest in the presidential cycle.”

UK

How Britain’s most notorious gangster turned up at a charity lunch to fact-check a retired detective’s talk

Published

52 mins ago

July 5, 2025

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How Britain's most notorious gangster turned up at a charity lunch to fact-check a retired detective's talk

Britain’s most notorious gangster and the detective who pursued him have been involved in a bizarre confrontation…at a charity lunch.

Former Detective Superintendent Ian Brown was at a Kent golf club and about to give a talk on the infamous £26m Brink’s-Mat gold robbery when he was summoned from the stage by officials.

Mr Brown, who appeared on the award-winning Sky News StoryCast podcast The Hunt For The Brink’s-Mat Gold in 2019, said: “I go outside and they say ‘he’s here’ and I say ‘who’s here’ and they say that table over there in the corner, that’s Kenny Noye with a baseball cap pulled down over his head.”

Noye stabbed to death an undercover policeman during the Brink’s-Mat investigation, but was acquitted of murder, though he was jailed for handling the stolen gold.

After his release, he used a knife again in the M25 road-rage murder of motorist Stephen Cameron.

“They said what are we going to do?” said Mr Brown.

“I said are you serving food? Well, just use plastic knives.”

Although Mr Brown had not personally arrested Noye over Brink’s-Mat he had identified him as a suspect months after the robbery.

Years later he met him during an ill-fated TV interview in which he quizzed him about his role in the robbery.

He said: “He told me everything I wanted to know except the truth. He still insists he had nothing to do with it.”

The interview was never broadcast after the prison authorities threatened to send Noye back to jail for a breach of his parole.

Mr Brown, 86, said: “I went over to him and said ‘thanks for coming, nice of you to pop in’, but I don’t believe you’ve turned up with your sons and grandkids to listen to me telling how you killed a police officer.

“And he said ‘I want to make sure you don’t say I’ve been dealing drugs’ and I said ‘I’ve never said that Kenny’.”

The retired detective told Noye he wasn’t going to change his presentation just because he was there.

“He said ‘mate, I wouldn’t expect you to and I’ll come up [on stage] if you want me to’.

“Can you think how he’s turned up with his family to listen to somebody talking about you killing the police? Now, you put logic on that.”

The bizarre story emerged when I rang Mr Brown after I’d been told about the meeting.

I also wanted to ask him about the recent BBC hit drama series The Gold which retold the story of the Brink’s-Mat heist at Heathrow Airport in 1983.

“It was an absolute shambles, far too much dramatic licence and the real story was so much better,” said the ex-detective, whose job had been to follow the trail of the 6,800 gold bars to the US and the Caribbean.

He said he chatted to one of the show’s writers for a long time in a phone call but then heard no more.

“They invented people, changed a bit here and there and made it politically correct in so many ways. I’m just very sad that that is what people will believe.

“And I couldn’t work out who my character was supposed to be. I could have been one of the female cops.”

He also criticised the portrayal of Noye, now 78, as a likeable jack-the-lad character when the truth about the double killer with a volatile temper was quite different.

Sports

L.A. routed 18-1 in worst loss at Dodger Stadium

Published

1 hour ago

July 5, 2025

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L.A. routed 18-1 in worst loss at Dodger Stadium

ESPN News Services

Jul 5, 2025, 01:32 AM ET

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered their worst loss ever in Dodger Stadium, an 18-1 blowout at the hands of the Houston Astros on Friday night in the series opener of a matchup between division leaders.

The 17-run loss marked the Dodgers’ largest margin of defeat at home since the team moved to Dodger Stadium in 1962, and the franchise’s worst home loss since July 3, 1947, when Brooklyn lost 19-2 to the New York Giants.

Jose Altuve homered twice while reaching base five times and driving in five runs for the Astros, who held the defending World Series champion Dodgers to six hits including Will Smith‘s solo homer.

“That was one you want to flush as soon as possible,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I don’t think there were many positives from this night.”

Dodgers fans relentlessly booed Altuve throughout his at-bats, chanting, “Cheater! Cheater!” He’s one of two players, along with Lance McCullers Jr., remaining from Houston’s 2017 team that beat the Dodgers in the World Series. It later came out that the Astros were stealing signs with the help of video and relaying pitches to batters by banging on a trash can.

The AL West-leading Astros scored 10 runs in the sixth, highlighted by Victor Caratini‘s grand slam and Altuve’s three-run shot. It was the most runs given up in an inning by the Dodgers since April 23, 1999, when they allowed 11 to St. Louis.

McCullers (2-3) allowed one run and four hits in six innings of his second start since returning from a sprained right foot. He struck out four.

Isaac Paredes hit his first career leadoff homer on the first pitch of the game from rookie Ben Casparius. Altuve doubled and scored on Christian Walker‘s RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

Jake Meyers doubled leading off the third and scored on Altuve’s 14th homer. Rookie Cam Smith doubled and scored on Walker’s 417-foot shot halfway up the left-field pavilion to cap four straight hits given up by Casparius and extend Houston’s lead to 6-1.

“I don’t think Ben was good tonight,” Roberts said. “It seemed like they were on everything he threw up there.”

The Astros broke it open in the sixth. Smith had a bases-loaded RBI single, reliever Noah Davis hit Walker with two strikes on him to force in a run and Caratini hit his slam with no outs. Meyers added an RBI single, and Altuve hit his second homer of the night.

Casparius allowed six runs and nine hits in three innings and struck out three.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sports

Raleigh ties M’s record with 35 HRs before break

Published

1 hour ago

July 5, 2025

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Raleigh ties M's record with 35 HRs before break

ESPN News Services

Jul 4, 2025, 08:14 PM ET

SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh hit his 34th and 35th home runs to set a career high and match Ken Griffey Jr.’s Seattle record for homers before the All-Star break, helping the Mariners beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0 on Friday.

Raleigh, the major league leader in home runs, turned on a fastball from Bailey Falter (6-4) in the first inning and walloped it well past the wall in left. The exit velocity on the two-run shot was logged at 115.2 mph, per Statcast, making it the hardest-hit ball of his career.

Raleigh topped his previous career high for homers, set last season, in the sixth with a solo shot that chased Falter. The Mariners mustered only one other hit off the left-hander, but it was also a home run courtesy of Randy Arozarena in the fourth inning.

Raleigh’s 35 homers are tied for the fifth most in MLB history before the All-Star break (since 1933), matching Griffey in 1998 and Luis Gonzalez in 2001. Barry Bonds holds the record with 39 at the break in 2001.

Raleigh said he was honored to tie Griffey, whom he called the face of the Mariners.

“To be mentioned with that name, somebody that’s just iconic, a legend, first-ballot Hall of Famer, I’m just blessed,” Raleigh said. “Trying to do the right thing and trying to keep it rolling. If I can try to be like that guy, it’s a good guy to look up to.”

Raleigh is on pace to hit 65 home runs this season, which would break New York Yankees star Aaron Judge‘s American League record of 62, set in 2022.

Manager Dan Wilson, who was a teammate of Griffey Jr.’s in 1998, tried to put Raleigh’s fast start to 2025 in perspective.

“It’s remarkable. It feels like he hits a home run every game, that’s what it feels like,” Wilson said. “And I can remember feeling it as a player, that [Griffey] just felt like he hit a home run every day. Again, that’s the consistency that [Raleigh] has shown. It hasn’t been a streak where he has hit a bunch of home runs in a short amount of time. It’s been kind of 10 per month.”

A switch-hitter, Raleigh has more home runs as a left-handed hitter and as a right-handed hitter than anyone else on the Mariners: He has 21 from the left side and 14 from the right. Arozarena ranks second on Seattle with 13 homers this season.

The Mariners play eight more games before the All-Star break.

The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.