On this edition of Your Call, we discuss ongoing negotiations over the debt ceiling.

On April 25, House Republicans passed a bill that would put more than 10 million people at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage, more than one million at risk of losing SNAP benefits, and roughly one million children at risk of losing income assistance, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The bill would also cost states, tribal nations, and local communities $1.3 trillion in funding for vital services like schools, transit, and aid to families in crisis.

The White House has privately proposed closing tax loopholes as part of a broader deal, but Republicans are refusing to support a bill unless President Biden agrees to spending cuts, according to the HuffPost.

The government could default on its debts as early as June 1 if Congress does not reach a deal.

Guests:

David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect and author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power

Arthur Delaney, senior reporter for HuffPost

James Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and Professor of Government at The University of Texas at Austin

Lindsay Koshgarian, program director of the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies

Web Resources:

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Roundup: Analyzing House Republicans’ Harmful Debt-Ceiling-and-Cuts Bill

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: McCarthy Medicaid Proposal Puts Millions of People in Expansion States at Risk of Losing Health Coverage

HuffPost: Kevin McCarthy Says Lifting Debt Ceiling Must Also Lift Lazy Guy Off Couch

Huffpost: Republicans Rule Out Taxes While Complaining About Tax, Spending Imbalance

The Nation: The Debt Ceiling Explained. Once More, With Feeling…

The Nation: More “Dangerous Nonsense” From “The New York Times” on the Debt Ceiling

The Nation: The Debt Ceiling Drama Is All Stagecraft

The American Prospect: The President Is Already in Litigation Over the Debt Ceiling

The Washington Post: Missing in this year’s debt-ceiling talks: Democratic demands for new taxes

The National Priorities Project: The Warfare State: How Funding for Militarism Compromises Our Welfare