Speaker McCarthy must walk a fine line since any member can call for a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair, one of several concessions he made to gain the top post after 15 rounds of voting earlier this month.

For now, he is leaning in on using the debt ceiling crisis to cut spending and balance the US budget. Recently, McCarthy rejected Democratic calls for a clean debt ceiling increase without any conditions attached – something Congress has done time and again, including under then-President Donald Trump. The speaker told reporters on Capitol Hill that the Biden administration should begin to negotiate ahead of this summer, when the US could default.

“Why wouldn’t we sit down and change this behavior so that we would put ourselves on a more fiscally strong position?” McCarthy said.

President Joe Biden and McCarthy have not yet spoken about the debt limit, according to an official familiar with the dynamic.

Hard-right GOP Rep. Andy Biggs went even further in a tweet writing, “We cannot raise the debt ceiling. Democrats have carelessly spent our taxpayer money and devalued our currency. They’ve made their bed, so they must lie in it.”

The White House on blasted the Arizona Republican’s “stunning and unacceptable position” and once again rejected calls to reduce spending as part of a debt ceiling deal.

While there were no meetings with congressional leadership to announce at this time, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the administration has been reaching out “to all members, from both sides of the aisle,” but, “there will not be any negotiations over the debt ceiling– we will not do that, it is their constitutional duty.”