Biden to meet with McCarthy at the White House amid debt ceiling fight
Christian Datoc
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President Joe Biden will soon host House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) at the White House for a meeting, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Friday.
McCarthy and some House Republicans, fresh off retaking a congressional majority, have threatened not to extend the debt limit unless the Biden administration agrees to significantly curb spending levels, potentially including cutting funding for Social Security and Medicare. The White House has thus far rejected attempts to negotiate a debt limit deal from House Republicans, instead calling on Congress to pass a bipartisan solution without the president’s input.
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“The president is looking forward to meeting with Speaker McCarthy,” Jean-Pierre said when pressed on the subject during Friday’s press briefing, but she would not say if the meeting would be focused on the “debt ceiling specifically.”
“It’s going to be about a range of issues, right, and when the president speaks to members, when he has meetings with members, he talks about a range of issues. I don’t want to get ahead of a meeting that has not been locked in. It’s a little bit of a hypothetical here,” she responded. “When it comes to the debt ceiling, I have been clear, the president has been clear, it should not be used as a political football, but again, he’s looking forward to meeting with the speaker and continue to build on that relationship.”
Former President Donald Trump on Friday urged House Republicans not to target entitlement funding as part of their negotiating strategy, extending the president an unexpected lifeline that other Democrats rejected.
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“Donald Trump’s own record speaks for itself: Every year he was in office, Trump proposed cutting Social Security and Medicare programs,” Democratic National Committee spokesperson Rhyan Lake told the Washington Examiner. “Americans overwhelmingly rejected the MAGA agenda of gutting Social Security, Medicare, and affordable healthcare in 2018, 2020, and 2022, and will do so again.”
You can watch Friday’s briefing in full below.
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