The Biden White House Phenomenologist: “The Speaker pivoted back” after the G-7 ended and urged the House to reconsider spending cuts
Biden said that he’d be willing to cut his spending, but Republicans needed to think about raising taxes. House Republicans are largely opposed to any tax increase – a major tool Biden has relied on in his proposed budgets to lower the deficit.
House Republicans are being framed as less interested in finding a solution to raise the debt ceiling and more interested in courting the right wing of their caucuses, according to Biden’s top staffers.
The White House said in a statement issued early Sunday morning that the Speaker’s team put on an offer that was a “step back and contained a set of extreme partisan demands that could never pass both Houses of Congress.”
Biden said he was unsure if legal challenges to using the 14th amendment to avoid default could be resolved in time to avert default. “That’s a question that I think is unresolved,” he said.
I felt that we would have compromise and we were at a point where we could agree. We wouldn’t get what our bill said — we would find compromise,” he added. Even though the president was overseas, he tried to change places. I don’t understand that.”
“The president pivoted back,” McCarthy said on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures. He actually proposed spending billions more than we do this year.
Biden said he expected to speak to McCarthy on Air Force One. “My guess is he’s gonna want to deal directly with me in making sure we’re all on the same page,” Biden said.
Biden blamed Republicans for the deadlock when he spoke after the G-7 ended. “It is time for the other side to stop being so extreme and start being more reasonable” he said.
The Biden administration and the House Republicans doubled down on their red lines, blaming the other side for stymied progress and stressing the need to avoid a debt default.
Biden was attending the G-7 summit in Japan when the designated negotiators for the two leaders were starting their talks on Friday. The president cut the second half of the trip short so he could be back in D.C. for continued negotiations with congressional leaders.
Biden-and-McCarthy-Gear Up for the Next-Round-of-Debt-Ceiling-Talks
McCarthy said that he believes if he understands what they’re looking at, he can solve some of the problems.
McCarthy has said that the work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents should be included in federal safety net programs. There was a provision in the House Republicans’ bill that addressed raising the debt limit.
He says he won’t accept any work requirements that go beyond what he already knows. It’s possible there could be a few more, but not anything.
There are indications that both parties would compromise on a potential deal in order to make green energy and oil and gas projects go more quickly.
The US could run out of funds as early as June 1 if the Congress doesn’t agree on a long-term budget deal, warns the Treasury Secretary. That puts a major crunch time on both chambers of Congress. McCarthy has said that the House would need 72 hours before it would vote on any bill, before it heads to the Senate.
Markets went into a freefall when the debt ceiling was raised in 2011. Ratings agencies downgraded the U.S. from its top AAA credit rating to AA+ as a result of the debate.
An actual default could lead to a recession according to most economists. A default would severely affect financial markets, increase mortgage rates and interest rates on credit cards, could cause government workers and Social Security recipients to go unpaid, and could make it difficult for businesses and citizens to borrow money.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/22/1177437014/biden-and-mccarthy-gear-up-for-the-next-round-of-debt-ceiling-talks
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