Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Congress will increase the debt limit in a budget reconciliation bill House Republicans hope to pass next month. The clock is ticking. If Congress doesn’t increase the debt limit, the nation will default on its bills, causing widespread economic consequences.

The debt limit is the maximum amount of money the federal government is authorized to borrow to pay its bills. The nation hit the ceiling on Jan. 1. However, the Treasury Department can avoid a loan default for a number of months by moving money around from nonessential accounts.

Budget reconciliation packages amend spending that has already been approved by Congress. Lawmakers cannot increase the baseline number, they can only adjust what it’s being used for.

Reconciliation bills require only a simple majority for approval in both chambers, so Republicans have the numbers to do it without any input from Democrats. That’s exactly what Speaker Johnson says they plan to do. 

“If it runs through regular order and regular process … then you have to have both parties negotiating, and we feel like we’re in a better stead to do it ourselves,” Johnson said.

Johnson explained the Republican Party’s philosophy regarding spending and the debt ceiling. He said raising the borrowing limit will not be an excuse to spend more than the government’s revenue, which is currently happening.

“Our intention and our mission is to reduce the size and scope of government, to reduce spending in a meaningful way so that we can restore fiscal sanity and get our country back on the right track,” Johnson said.

“So raising the debt limit is a necessary step so that we don’t give the appearance that we’re going to default in some way on the nation’s debt, that’s important to the bond markets and the stability of the dollar and all the rest,” he continued.

There are a number of measures Republicans hope to include in the reconciliation package but everything has to be related to the budget. The Senate parliamentarian can remove items from the bill if they determine it is not budget-related.

Republicans want to expand oil drilling in the Arctic, repeal electric vehicle subsidies and rescind tailpipe emissions rules. In addition, some Republicans want to restore state and local tax deductions, which they repealed in the 2017 tax bill.

“The thing that’s interesting about the whole state and local tax deduction issue is that the Republicans burn the house down and now want to pretend that they’re firefighters. Are you kidding me?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said. “The state and local tax deduction was obliterated as part of the GOP tax scam in 2017.”

President-elect Donald Trump is meeting with Senate Republicans the night of Wednesday, Jan. 8, to discuss the budget reconciliation package. It’s a top priority and House Republicans hope to pass it out of their chamber by February.