Biden calls debt ceiling fight a ‘manufactured crisis’
Eden Villalovas
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President Joe Biden claimed the fight over raising the debt ceiling is a “manufactured crisis” created by Republicans.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Republicans have passed a bill to address the looming pocketbook problem but have not received cooperation from Democrats in the Senate or White House. Biden and other Democratic leaders are insisting Republicans help raise the debt ceiling without any spending cuts or caps attached to the negotiations.
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“The last thing this country needs after all we’ve been through is a manufactured crisis,” Biden said. “That’s what this is, a manufactured crisis … driven by the MAGA Republicans in the Congress.”
Biden tried to bolster Democrats’ negotiating position by praising the latest job reports from the Bureau of Labor on Friday, reporting the U.S. added 235,000 jobs in April. Statistics show that unemployment rates fell to 3.4%, a record low level since 1969. The report comes after a year of several Federal Reserve interest rate rises, with a 16-year high hike of 0.25 percentage points hitting Thursday. Biden praised his administration for adding 12 million new jobs since taking office.
Armed with positive economic news, the president said he plans to tell McCarthy an other congressional leaders that everyone needs to work out a solution to the debt ceiling. Biden is set to meet with McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on May 9.
“Next week I’m going to reiterate to congressional leaders that they should do what every other Congress has done – that is pass the debt limit, avoid default,” Biden said.
Biden lobbed several attacks at Republicans, who have insisted that any plan to raise the debt ceiling and prevent the country from defaulting on its payments must be tied to decreases in spending.
“Our MAGA Republicans in Congress are threatening to undo all this progress by letting us ‘default on the debt’ unless we agree to their demands,” he said, referring to claims his administration had reduced the federal deficit by $1.7 trillion. “The two are totally unrelated. Whether you pay the debt or not doesn’t have a damn thing to do with what your budget is.”
McCarthy’s plan, which would trim the federal deficit by $4.8 trillion over the next decade, would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion or through March 31, 2024, whichever comes first.
Biden attacked the spending cuts in McCarthy’s plan, including saying the plan puts 21 million people at risk for losing Medicaid and cuts the federal law enforcement by 28,000 personnel.
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While Biden criticized the Republicans’ refusal to raise the ceiling without any strings attached, he said he is willing to debate the limits of the bill but not under the threat of default.
“Instead, we should be debating a vision of our country’s future,” he said. “Their vision versus our vision. Totally legitimate. Totally legitimate. And it’s for the American people to say that we like their version better than ours. But debate the vision.”