House Republicans are expected to bring their proposal to raise the debt ceiling to the House floor for a vote today. Assuming no Democrats vote in favor, Speaker McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republican votes due to the slim majority in the House. The debt ceiling is the cap for how much the U.S. government can borrow from the Treasury to fulfill its financial obligations. The U.S. technically hit its debt limit at the end of January leading the Treasury to use “extraordinary measures” to be able to continue paying. Once these measures run out, the U.S. could default on its debt with extreme consequences to the global economy, however both Democrats and Republicans have stated that they are committed to avoiding this fate, requiring them to come to agreement on raising the debt ceiling.
The Republicans are expected to bring their bill to the floor which raises the debt ceiling in conjunction with spending cuts and a series of other GOP priorities. The bill is not expected to go to the Senate even if it passes the House, but rather is part of Speaker McCarthy’s strategy to bring President Biden to the table and strengthen the Republican stake in negotiations. The most recent discussion between the two on the issue was back on February 1st. Read more about this here and follow live updates here.