DALLAS — After months of debate, Congress is no closer to passing a budget or reaching a compromise on raising the debt ceiling.
While House Republican leaders have said they would like to see discretionary spending capped at 2022 levels, congresswoman Jasmine Crockett said that would hurt her district, TX-30, which features both Dallas and Tarrant counties.
The Democrat said the country was still trying to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022 and to this day, she said some businesses in her district are still feeling the effect of supply chain issues and worker shortages.
“We need to do everything that we can to support education. We need to do everything that we can to make sure that we’re starting to truly bounce back. And so, we need more money, not less,” the congresswoman told Inside Texas Politics.
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy indicated recently that Republicans might act on their own to address the debt ceiling. While not revealing any specifics, McCarthy said the GOP was close to agreeing on a spending package that could pass the House without Democrats or President Joe Biden.
Lawmakers must either raise the debt ceiling in order to pay off interest on the country’s debts and finance federal programs Congress has already approved, or cut spending, which Republicans prefer. The President’s budget, on the other hand, raises taxes on the wealthy and corporations to support the programs and cut the deficit.
Raising the debt ceiling is the first step, and this is one area where Crockett can see some compromise with Republicans.
“There are those that realize how catastrophic it would be if for some reason we didn’t raise the debt ceiling,” she said.