White House denies McCarthy budget negotiation request: ‘Stop playing games’
Naomi Lim
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The White House rejected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s (R-CA) entreaties for President Joe Biden to meet with him to discuss raising the debt ceiling before the country defaults on its loans this summer.
Members of Congress have a constitutional obligation to lift the debt limit “as they did three times in the previous administration without conditions,” according to press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
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“Business leaders and economists have warned that the threat of a default risks the livelihoods of American small businesses, retirees, and working families and would hand a massive win to China — and recent events underscore the need for Congress to address the debt limit as soon as possible,” she wrote in a statement Tuesday. “It’s time for Republicans to stop playing games, pass a clean debt ceiling bill, and quit threatening our economic recovery.”
Jean-Pierre reiterated Biden is interested in “a separate conversation about our nation’s fiscal future” but wants to see a budget from McCarthy “and his extreme MAGA caucus” first.
“All we’ve heard from them is a list of devastating cuts to law enforcement and border security and proposals to take health care away from Americans and raise health care and child care costs,” she added. “All to pay for their tax giveaway to the super-wealthy and corporations. In fact, their proposals don’t reduce the deficit at all.”
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Earlier Tuesday, McCarthy released the letter he sent Biden, in which he told the president he is “prepared to sit down to discuss a variety of means to do so that would achieve trillions of dollars in savings and economic growth.” The speaker also asked Biden to “have your team reach out to mine by the end of the week to set a date for our next meeting.” The pair last spoke face-to-face in February, while the Treasury Department depends on extraordinary measures to pay the country’s debts after it reached the $31.4 trillion ceiling in January.
“Mr. President: I’m incredibly concerned you are putting an already fragile economy in jeopardy by insisting upon your extreme position on the debt limit,” McCarthy tweeted. “It’s time to drop partisanship, roll up our sleeves, & find common ground on this urgent challenge.”
https://twitter.com/SpeakerMcCarthy/status/1640689855762931714?s=20