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- Republicans have finally put their demands for the debt ceiling in writing and released legislation.
- In exchange for raising the debt ceiling for a year, the GOP wants a range of sweeping cuts.
- They also want to preserve consumers' access to gas stoves, a fiery issue for the right.
Republicans have finally outlined what, exactly, they want in exchange for raising the debt ceiling — and they certainly do not want electric stoves.
After months of stalemate and back and forth, GOP leaders released a 320-page bill detailing their plan for raising the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion. That legislation will only raise the debt ceiling for the next year — setting up another potential showdown in just a year — and contains several cuts Democrats are likely to balk at.
It also takes aim at the movement to phase out gas ovens, something that emerged as a pet cause of the GOP in early 2023.
Specifically, the debt ceiling legislation stipulates that the Secretary of Energy will not be allowed to implement a proposed rule that would alter energy standards for stoves. According to a Department of Energy analysis, over 40% of current gas stoves on the market would not satisfy the new requirements.
The debt ceiling legislation also bars the Secretary of Energy from administering any "substantially similar rule" or any rule that would "directly or indirectly limit consumer access to gas kitchen ranges and ovens."
When Richard Trumka Jr., a commissioner at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, told Bloomberg that the agency was contemplating banning gas stoves, uproar ensued. Republicans — along with conservative Democrat Joe Manchin — raced to defend their gas stoves.
—Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) January 10, 2023
Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Republican from Texas, tweeted in January: "I'll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!
—Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) January 10, 2023
Ultimately, the CPSC said it wasn't looking to outright ban gas stoves, and instead wanted to look how to reduce potentially hazardous emissions from stoves.
Gas stoves aren't the only thing setting Republicans aflame. They also want to impose stricter work requirements for welfare beneficiaries, claw back Covid and IRS funding, and outright ban student-loan forgiveness in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
"President Biden's reckless spending created record inflation, made us more dependent on China, and undermined Social Security and Medicare," McCarthy and other GOP leaders said in a statement. "We must address record spending now. If we don't, America will be weaker and families will be worse off."
If the US defaults on its debt, it'll send the country's and world's economies into an unprecedented tailspin. Moody's Analytics estimates even a short default would leave 1 million Americans jobless. What remains to be seen, then, is if McCarthy has enough votes to pay the country's debts and hold onto gas stoves.