US Lawmakers Eye Replacing Fixed Dollar Debt Ceiling With Percentage Of Economic Output

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is reportedly readying a plan to solve the looming crisis over the debt ceiling by changing it from a fixed dollar amount to a percentage of national economic output.

U.S. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, the Republican co-chair of the moderate Problem Solvers Caucus, said the proposal would replace the current federal debt ceiling, set at $31.4 trillion, with a rule that would instead limit debt to a share of national economic output, reported Reuters.

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Fitzpatrick, who appeared on Fox News Sunday with Democratic Problem Solvers co-chair Josh Gottheimer, said Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy would be leading negotiations with the White House over the debt ceiling.

"We're just going to offer up ... a possible bridge-building solution," Fitzpatrick said.

Last week, the U.S. government reached its $31.4 trillion borrowing limit on Thursday with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reportedly informing Congressional leaders her department had commenced using extraordinary cash management measures that could stave off default until June 5.

The White House has asserted there will not be any negotiations over the debt ceiling. “This is an issue that is a concept — the basic — the basic duties of Congress to take care of, to handle. And so we’re going to be — continue to say that. We’re going to be very clear it should it be done without conditions,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week. President Joe Biden is hosting Democratic congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday.

According to the Reuters report, Gottheimer said: "I've had [a] conversation with the White House just this weekend, and I'm optimistic that they will sit down" to discuss the issue with Republicans.

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