“The Prospect for a Catastrophe”

House Republicans are set to STEER THE COUNTRY TOWARD A SERIES OF FISCAL SHOWDOWNS as they look to force the White House to agree to massive spending cuts, threatening a return to the political brinkmanship that once nearly crippled the economy and almost plunged the U.S. government into default.

THE PROSPECT FOR A CATASTROPHE rose dramatically after conservatives brokered a deal with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that clinched his election as the speaker of the House early Saturday. To put an end to days of raucous debate, party lawmakers said they agreed to drive a hard line in upcoming budget talks, potentially including demands for SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE.

In the hours before the 15th and final speaker vote, Republicans sketched out the early contours of what they might pursue over the next year — slashing spending by billions of dollars, largely targeting federal health, education, labor and other domestic agencies that Democrats say are already underfunded.

Some GOP lawmakers even signaled they would insist on these reductions — along with other, more structural changes to federal entitlement programs — in exchange for voting to lift the debt ceiling. That cap is the statutory limit on how much the U.S. government can borrow to pay its existing bills, and lawmakers must act to raise or suspend it — otherwise the country will default, which many experts fear would set off a global fiscal calamity.