House

GOP skepticism grows over Yellen’s June 1 debt ceiling deadline

by Emily Brooks - 05/23/23 12:36 PM ET

Republicans in the House are signaling growing skepticism that the June 1 deadline Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen set for lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling is really set in stone.

With the end of the month now little more than a week away, and the White House and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) remaining far apart in negotiations, doubt about the deadline’s legitimacy could make reaching a deal by June 1 even less likely.

Disbelief in the date is fueling the right flank’s argument that Republicans should not give in on their debt limit increase demands, viewing Yellen’s threats as creating manufactured deadline pressure.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) stood up in a House GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning and suggested that Republicans call in Yellen to have her “show her work” and reasoning behind the June 1 date, he confirmed to The Hill.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) separately suggested subpoenaing Yellen to see her reasoning.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has set a firm deadline of June 1 to avoid default. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, Pool)

While the skepticism of the so-called “X-date” is particularly apparent from the House GOP’s right flank, it is not limited to them.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), one of the lead negotiators with White House staff in debt limit negotiations, said he doesn’t think the White House appears to be urgently seeking a deal, which has caused him to doubt the legitimacy of the deadline.

“I want to trust the Treasury’s math, but they’re going to have to show their work,” McHenry told The Hill. “And if the White House team doesn’t have a sense of urgency, if the President doesn’t have a sense of urgency here, then that raises more questions — valid questions — about how they justify the date.”

McHenry noted Yellen is scheduled to appear before his Congressional panel June 7, days after the potential X-date.

More coverage of the debt ceiling from The Hill:

Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), chairman of the Republican Main Street Caucus, echoed some of McHenry’s thoughts on what’s causing the skepticism, saying a perceived lack of urgency from the White House “makes us wonder if they’re dealing with a different deadline.”

But he argued that even if it is a fake deadline, blowing past it does not amount to a good political move.

“If you give negotiators more time, they will always gobble up more time. So, let’s just get the deal done,” Johnson said.

Republican leadership is not yet entertaining blowing past the June 1 date without acting to raise the debt limit.

McCarthy on Monday said he is taking Yellen’s analysis at face value.

“They decide when that date is,” McCarthy told reporters Monday. “The president may have more information on that, but she has been very clear.”

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) talks to reporters following a meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., to discuss the debit ceiling with President Biden on Monday, May 22, 2023. (Greg Nash)

McCarthy added Tuesday that he thinks a deal is still possible before that deadline.

But the skepticism could put pressure on McCarthy.

The hard line conservative House Freedom Caucus last week called on GOP leaders to “use every leverage and tool at their disposal” to get the Senate to pass or modify the debt limit increase bill the House GOP passed last month, which included spending cut and policy reforms.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said the bill is dead on arrival in the upper chamber, and McCarthy said Monday that compromise will be necessary in part because the Senate has not acted on it.

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House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-Pa.) said negotiations with the White House “are predicated on Janet Yellen saying that the date is June 1” and signaled that if the deadline is not real, there is no reason for Republicans to negotiate for a slimmed-down deal with the White House.

“I don’t know why we accept that. We haven’t seen her work. We haven’t seen any figures,” Perry said. “We also know that the [tax revenue] quarterlies coming in at the middle of the month are going to be flushed with cash. There’s absolutely no reason to do this, and we all know it.”

Yellen first highlighted June 1 as a possible default date in a May 1 letter that caught some members of Congress by surprise and sparked negotiations between President Biden and McCarthy. She said the U.S. would exhaust cash and extraordinary measures to continue paying its bills by early next month.

In another letter to McCarthy on Monday, Yellen reiterated that while “it is impossible to predict with certainty the exact date when Treasury will be unable to pay all the government’s bills,” it is “highly likely” that the government will not be able to meet all of its obligations “by early June, and potentially as early as June 1.”

Yellen warns of catastrophic default: ‘Time is running out’

That wording does suggest there could be some flexibility, and it is being used by some Republicans to argue they should not be bullied into a quick deal.

“I do think Yellen will say that we do have money coming in. She’ll extend it. But right now she’s using June 1. Everybody knows that’s false,” Norman said. “The first tax revenues coming in particular from California and other states.”

The skeptics among the GOP, though, do not have a sense of when they think the real X-date might be.

“Ask her. We need to subpoena her and get her plan,” Norman said.

When asked if Yellen’s June 1 date was real, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told reporters: “Ask Janet Yellen. She’s the one with the magic Ouija board.”

“The fact is, we’re gonna have cash in June. The fact is, we’re not going to default on our debt. That’s just completely false. We’ve got the money to do it,” Roy said.

Updated at 3:02 p.m.