Republicans take aim at Biden’s climate plan in debt ceiling fight

Amid warnings about looming fiscal catastrophe, the GOP is attempting to use Biden’s climate agenda as a bargaining chip over raising the debt ceiling – even if it could hurt Republican voters.

Late last month, House Republicans narrowly passed speaker Kevin McCarthy’s proposal to raise the government’s debt ceiling in exchange for sweeping cuts to federal spending.

Known as the Limit, Save, Grow Act, the proposal – which is unlikely to progress through the Democrat-majority Senate and which the president says he would veto – would eliminateBiden’s student loan forgiveness plan and claw back pandemic relief spending. It would also repeal most of the new renewable energy tax incentives codified in the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Republicans unfortunately are not allowing government to function as intended,” said Mark Paul, a professor of economics at Rutgers University.

All but six Senate Republicans on Saturday promised to oppose raising the debt ceiling “without substantive spending and budget reforms”, supporting McCarthy’s position. Biden is set to meet with…