Speaker McCarthy Eyes New Commission To Tackle Nation’s Debt

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., arrives for a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans as he pushes his sweeping debt ceiling package, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. McCarthy is struggling to round up the votes for the bill, which would couple an increase of the country's debt ceiling with restrictions on federal spending. A final vote on the package is likely Thursday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is studying history and considering the appointment of a mix of lawmakers and business leaders to a new commission to tackle the nation’s soaring debt.

McCarthy is fresh off his biggest political victory since becoming speaker.

He got the White House to agree to a debt limit suspension that also contained some $1.5 trillion in deficit savings.

Now, he’s studying whether to ask CEOs who have streamlined business operations to work with lawmakers.

He says, “I think that combination would work well, but right now I’m spending a lot of time on how to put that together.”

A Democratic senator calls the effort a “prescription for trouble.”