Washington: On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden criticised a Republican congressional plan to raise the country's borrowing limit in exchange for a spending cap on the federal government, claiming that it would mean "huge cuts" to programmes that benefit millions of Americans.

Earlier in the day, Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the US House of Representatives, officially unveiled the plan's details and urged his party's members to work together as they oppose the president.

In January, the US exceeded its $31.4 trillion borrowing cap, forcing the Treasury to take "extraordinary measures" to continue funding the government's operations.

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However, the US government runs the risk of going into payment default as early as July if the debt ceiling is not raised or suspended by Congress before the current options run out.

In an effort to rein in Democrats' allegedly "reckless" spending, House Republicans have promised to raise the debt ceiling only if spending caps are put in place.

In a tweet on Tuesday, McCarthy urged a floor vote before the month was out, saying it was "time to stop the madness." According to McCarthy, "Democrats' careless spending caused inflation, a banking crisis, and so many other problems."

However, Biden claimed that the Republican leader was proposing "huge cuts to important programmes" that "millions of Americans count on," and that their plan would return the nation to "the same old trickle-down economic theories of the past."

McCarthy's plan would, among other things, bring back federal spending to levels seen in 2022 and cap its growth at one percent annually for the following ten years.

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Democrats are adamantly opposed to the Republican plan, contending that it amounts to blackmail to tie raising the debt ceiling to budget cuts.
McCarthy "threatened to become the first Speaker to default on our national debt," according to Biden.

Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate Democrats, stated in a statement that nobody "should confuse this wish-list as anything more than a recycling of the same bad ideas we've heard about for weeks."

The US president has remarked time and time again that he is willing to talk about cutting spending but that Congress must pass a "clean" — no-strings-attached — increase in the debt ceiling before the deadline expires.

The White House stated after the conversation that Biden had with Schumer and prominent House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries that they had discussed how Republican "brinkmanship" could "crash the economy."

We won't negotiate over default, as agreed upon by President Biden, Leader Schumer, and Leader Jeffries, according to the White House.

After Republicans present their plan, "the President told Leaders Schumer and Jeffries that he was ready to have a separate negotiation over the budget."

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Early in February, McCarthy and Biden met to talk about potential outcomes, but they were unable to come to an agreement. To ensure the bill's passage in the House, McCarthy must also resolve divisions within the Republican Party between his party's right wing and its more moderate lawmakers.