House Speaker McCarthy Calls for Stricter “Work Requirements” in Republican Spending Plan

On Monday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) delivered a speech at the New York Stock Exchange about the impending debt ceiling. During his speech, McCarthy highlighted the idea of stricter “work requirements” for federal programs that help people pay for groceries and health care. He criticized President Joe Biden for not meeting with Republicans since February and not acceding to their demands to negotiate terms.

McCarthy said that the forthcoming Republican spending plan will “restore work requirements that ensure able-bodied adults without dependents earn a paycheck and learn new skills.” He noted that there are more job openings than people counted as unemployed. He also mentioned that the Biden administration weakened work requirements.

The speech was largely devoid of details about the spending hard lines. McCarthy did not provide any specifics on the work requirements or how they would be enforced. He also did not provide any information on how the Republicans plan to reduce spending to fiscal year 2022 levels or limit future growth.

It is unclear how the Republicans plan to move forward with their proposed work requirements. The Biden administration has yet to respond to the proposal. It remains to be seen if the two sides can come to an agreement on the issue.