Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus endorses debt deal

The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus endorsed the bill to raise the debt ceiling and add new caps on spending, and party leaders are working to whip members ahead of an expected vote Wednesday night.

The caucus’s co-chairmen, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (R-N.J.) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) praised the bill as fiscally responsible in a joint statement on Wednesday, and Gottheimer said their caucus “will play a key role in getting this legislation across the finish line and preventing a default.”

The deal reached by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Biden over the weekend raises the debt ceiling for two years, claws back some COVID-19 spending and increases work requirements for some public assistance programs.

It also cuts nondefense discretionary spending in 2024 and limits discretionary spending to 1 percent growth in 2025. But it falls for short of the spending cuts outlined in the Republican Limit, Save, Grow Act passed in the House last month. 

Biden for months said he would not negotiate with Republicans over the debt ceiling, but ultimately hammered out the deal with McCarthy just days ahead of the June 5 “X-date” when the Treasury says it will be unable to pay the government’s bills.

Fitzpatrick touted the caucus’s bipartisan framework advanced last month, which he said “played an instrumental role in breaking the gridlock, providing the White House and Congressional negotiators with a two-party solution to guide their conversations.”  

“Our bipartisan caucus is now proud to overwhelmingly endorse this two-party solution, The Fiscal Responsibility Act, that both avoids default and also begins the process of putting our nation on a path to fiscal sustainability,” Fitzpatrick wrote in the statement.

“There is still much more work to be done. But this legislation is a very, very important first step.”

Gottheimer added that, with a divided government, “You have to actually work together to find a solution that can make it across the finish line.”

“In the end, this vote will happen from the middle out and the Problem Solvers will play a key role in getting this legislation across the finish line and preventing a default,” he added.

The Problem Solvers Caucus comprises 64 members, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. The caucus pushes for bipartisan solutions to legislative problems and has played a key role in advancing bipartisan legislation in recent years.