WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- U.S. Republican senators will amend any bill they get to reduce government spending, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday.
While Congress grapples with approving an overdue budget and the country running on temporary extensions, McConnell, R-Ky., told "Fox News Sunday" he and the other 46 Republicans in the 100-seat upper house would tack on cost-cutting measures to any bill passed up from the House of Representatives.
"We've had a couple of bills up this year that were not directly related to spending," he said. "My members have been offering spending reduction amendments (and) we intend to continue to focus on reducing government spending no matter what bill happens to be before the Senate."
The current budget proposed by Democrats includes about $6 billion in spending cuts, while the Republicans' version calls for 10 times that.
McConnell said the country's $14 trillion debt and $50 trillion commitments to entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid could not be sustained without the Republicans' more austere approach.
Asked about a pending vote on raising the country's debt allowance as part of the Democrats' budget, McConnell reiterated the party stance of amending bills.
"My prediction is not a single one of the 47 Republicans will vote to raise the debt ceiling unless it includes with it some credible effort to do something about our debt," he said.
