Sen. Schumer slams GOP debt ceiling plan as ‘dagger to the heart of New York’

Steep budget cuts in House Republicans’ plan for raising the debt ceiling would be a major blow to New York, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday as efforts to increase the federal borrowing limit dragged on.

The GOP plan, passed in the House on Wednesday, “would be a dagger to the heart of New York,” Schumer said at a Midtown press conference.

“What the House did last week when it announced its draconian, disastrous cuts to some of the most basic functions of government is it shot an arrow through the heart of New York,” the New York Democrat added.

House Republicans narrowly approved a plan to increase the debt ceiling, which was reached in January. Since then, a range of emergency measures have kept the federal government running as lawmakers fight, with many members of the GOP-controlled House insisting on budget cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

The GOP plan would hike the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, along with imposing major budget cuts. President Biden threatened to veto the measure, though the Democrat-controlled Senate is virtually certain to vote it down first.

“We’ve done our job,” House Speaker Kevin McCathy (R-Calif.) said Wednesday. “The president can no longer ignore it by not negotiating. Now he should sit down and negotiate.”

Schumer on Sunday listed cuts he said would harm New York in particular.

The GOP targeted food stamps, heating and cooling assistance, law enforcement and more, he said.

The Republican plan “will derail our efforts to combat the opioid surge, deplete our childcare resources that families rely on, close Social Security offices … cut New York education, cut New York public safety and so many other things,” Schumer said.

The biggest cut singled out by the senator was an $8 billion reduction to the Department of Justice budget, which he said would lead to the loss of thousands of law enforcement jobs across the country. Schumer didn’t put a number on potential jobs lost in the Big Apple, but said the cut would undermine efforts to keep guns and drugs out of the city.

There’s a more than $1 billion reduction to Department of Health and Human Services programs aimed at fighting the opioid crisis, he said.

He also noted an $800 million nationwide cut to the Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps people cool and heat their homes.

The GOP plans includes a $144 million cut to the food stamp program known as SNAP, which would cut off more than 53,000 New Yorkers from benefits, according to Schumer.

“The House plan is a lose-lose,” he said. “Either we default on the national debt with horrible consequences for every family in America or we default on New York through extreme cuts that will harm millions.”

Biden and congressional Democrats have insisted on raising the debt ceiling with no strings attached, setting the stage for more weeks of fighting before the country’s borrowing limit, currently $31 trillion, gets lifted.

“Happy to meet with McCarthy,” Biden said Wednesday. “But not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended. That’s not negotiable.”

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) defended his party’s approach on Sunday.

“This is really spending reforms that would put this country on a better path and, by the way, prevents us from defaulting on our debt,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Biden has said he’s willing to consider federal spending cuts separately from raising the debt ceiling.

“Pass it if you don’t have any ideas,” Emmer said, addressing Democrats. “If you don’t like something in it, if you have ideas of our own, our speaker is more than willing, I’m sure, to listen to those.”

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Conn.) called on Republicans to act like “grown-ups.”

“The American people are looking at us and saying, this shouldn’t be a partisan drama playing out that we are going to foot the bill for,” she said Sunday on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”

“Avoid a default crisis that is manufactured by the GOP. And then we can go and talk about investments,” Clark added.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Conn.) echoed Schumer’s criticisms of the GOP plan.

“The Republicans are demanding hostage negotiations, where they will crash the full faith and credit of the United States,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”

“I’d be happy to negotiate,” added Coons, the co-chair of Biden’s reelection campaign. “What’s the mix of revenue increases and spending cuts that make sense going forward?”

With News Wire Services