Biden Gives In, Will Meet With McCarthy On Impending Default After Pressure From All Sides

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) accepted an invitation to sit down with President Biden to discuss the mounting debt crisis in the United States, according to Just the News. McCarthy managed to shepherd through the very narrow passage of the Limit, Save, and Grow Act of 2023 through the House which primarily aims “[t]o provide for a responsible increase to the debt ceiling” and attach conditions to that increase through limiting spending. The Act now heads to the Democrat-controlled Senate.

The White House had previously refused to talk with McCarthy as they regarded such talks as having preconditions and noted that “previous Congresses” had raised the debt ceiling “with no conditions attached and this Congress should act quickly to do so now.”

Pressure from the Democrats themselves like from Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Amy Klobuchar (D-MI), and Dick Durban (D-IL) urged that the two sides ought to talk. Manchin even said that he regarded Limit, Save, and Grow Act of 2023 to be “the only bill actually moving through Congress that would prevent default.” The White House has since folded and invited all sides from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for talks.

The White House at the same time emphasized that they had preconditions of their own. Biden’s Office of Management and Budge said that “The president has been clear that he will not accept such attempts at hostage-taking” and that Biden will veto the Limit, Save, and Grow Act of 2023 if it reaches his desk. After the passage of the bill, the president commented that he would be “happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended.” Biden will then only permit a simple raising of the borrowing limit.

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Biden’s Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, warned that if the debt ceiling is not raised by June 1st, the country will have to default.

Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) detected this hostile stance by the White House when he wrote on Twitter that “President Biden campaigned on ‘unity,’ but won’t negotiate with @SpeakerMcCarthy on the debt ceiling? Americans deserve better.”

President Biden campaigned on “unity,” but won’t negotiate with @SpeakerMcCarthy on the debt ceiling?

Americans deserve better. https://t.co/SrAdvwrsZY

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 30, 2023

Republicans are, however, not united on being bullish on their proposed bill to deal with the debt ceiling. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said, “Whether you drive off a cliff at 60 miles per hour or 80 miles per hour, the end result is the same: a horrific crash. That’s what we’re presented with today. The Limit, Save, Grow Act is touted to ‘save’ $4.8 trillion. In reality, it merely reduces the 2033 projected national debt from $52 trillion to around $47 trillion. 

He further stated, “The Limit, Save, Grow Act doesn’t eliminate our need to borrow money and barely bends down the growth of our national debt. Capping spending at FY2022 levels – levels that were inflated dramatically during COVID and would still exceed our annual revenues – is not aggressive enough.”

“At the bare minimum, this legislation should have returned federal spending to FY 2019, pre-COVID levels, which would allow us to spend within our means. It isn’t the panacea but it will bend the trajectory down and start correcting the problem,” he added.