Biden hosts a big debt ceiling meeting while insisting there's nothing to talk about

W. James Antle III

May 09, 07:00 AM May 09, 07:01 AM

President Joe Biden is set to meet Tuesday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and other congressional leaders about the debt ceiling standoff, but if you believe the White House, there is nothing to talk about.

“Look, there shouldn't be negotiations on the debt limit,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. “This is something that they should get to regular order and get to work on. We should not have House Republicans manufacturing a crisis on something that has been done 78 times since 1960.”

BIDEN INCHES CLOSER TO TALKING TO REPUBLICANS ABOUT THE DEBT CEILING

Jean-Pierre pitched the meeting as more of a Biden lecture. “So we're telling them — or saying to them: Do your job,” she said. “Pay for something that you've already spent on. That's it.” The message was similar last week.

“It is the president's job to also be very clear with Congress, with Republicans in Congress: You got to do your job,” Jean-Pierre said. “It is simple.”

“The question is to Speaker McCarthy, as I've said many times before here, is to — to the MAGA Republicans: What is going on here?” she added. “Why can you not get this done? It is simple. It is simple.”

“Let me be very clear: Congress needs to do its job,” budget director Shalanda Young concurred. “Tomorrow, they could put a bill on the floor to make sure we don't default. This is of people's own making.”

“As you know, the president is going to make clear that default has to come off the table, that he is happy to talk about spending priorities and who you value in this country, what our right tax policy is in this country, why every time we have this debate it has to go to working families in this country first in order to do the right thing for this country,” Young also told reporters.

In this telling, McCarthy and other congressional leaders are going to the White House for some coaching, and Biden is Bill Belichick: Do your job. There is no dialogue, only a monologue.

Young mocked this idea even while suggesting it would be Biden’s approach.

“Imagine if this president said, ‘Here's my budget' on March 9. 'If you don't take it all — lock, stock, and barrel, don't change your word, pass it without changes, I'd be willing to cause a recession and cost millions of people their jobs.’ That would be extreme,” she said.

At the same time, Young was saying Biden and his team did not view the only debt ceiling extension to pass a house of Congress, however narrowly, to be the starting point for the talks even though there is a risk of default sometime in June.

On the one hand, Young said Biden is “eager to have a separate conversation about the budget without threatening our economy.” On the other hand, “this is not some abstract debate.” The Biden budget, it seems, is better.

At Monday’s briefing, there were nearly a dozen instances of Jean-Pierre telling Congress to do its job, though some of those comments were referring to passing gun control rather than raising the debt ceiling without spending cuts.

This could all be posturing. In his 36 years in the Senate, Biden threw sharp partisan elbows in public and negotiated in private. He led the debt ceiling talks with House Republicans as vice president under former President Barack Obama, which did result in some spending cuts.

It is possible that Biden’s off-ramp will be an agreement on spending cuts passed through legislation separate from a debt ceiling extension or suspension. The White House invitation itself was a softening of the no-negotiations stance in response to a letter from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen moving up the day of debt limit reckoning.

“I think that we have to make it clear to the American people that I am prepared to negotiate in detail with their budget,” Biden said in an interview with MSNBC on Friday night. “How much are you going to spend? How much are you going to tax? Where can we cut?”

At the same time, Biden and congressional Republicans are far apart on spending priorities. There is little trust between them that would allow for a quick debt ceiling extension to be followed by budget negotiations.

The White House meeting could also be about establishing blame, as Biden’s team has spent a considerable amount of time arguing that any default, with economic consequences that could prove as dangerous to the president as the GOP, is the fault of House Republicans.

Biden was elected as a legislative deal-maker extraordinaire. But don’t call Tuesday’s bipartisan meeting a negotiation just yet.

White House refines its messaging war on debt ceiling ahead of McCarthy meeting

Naomi Lim

May 05, 06:46 PM May 05, 06:46 PM

The White House is tinkering with its criticism of Republicans before President Joe Biden sits down with Democratic congressional leaders, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to discuss the debt ceiling.

From warning of a "fire-alarm fire" and the country's risk of being perceived as a "deadbeat nation" to the debt ceiling fight being a "manufactured crisis," complementing claims Republicans will cut Meals on Wheels to law enforcement funding, the White House is still workshopping its response to the GOP as new polling reveals a public opinion split on who will be held responsible if there is a default.

BIDEN MAKES WOMEN THE KEY TO HIS 2024 REELECTION PLANS

The White House does not have a message regarding the debt ceiling because they do not have a strategy for negotiating with Republicans, according to Dan Schnur, the communications director of the late Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) 2000 presidential campaign and founder of the University of Southern California-Los Angeles Times state poll.

"They have misunderstood and under-estimated McCarthy every step of the way, and they still can’t decide if he’s an ally or an enemy," Schnur told the Washington Examiner.

The House has passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act, which would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion if non-defense discretionary federal spending is decreased to fiscal 2022 levels, budget increases are capped at 1% per year, and entitlement program work requirements are introduced, in addition to COVID-19 funding, Inflation Reduction Act green energy tax credit and IRS provisions, and Biden's student loan forgiveness proposal being repealed, per former Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS).

"Now Joe Biden and the Senate Democrats are on the clock,” Huelskamp, a former House Tea Party Caucus chairman, and veteran of multiple debt ceiling squabbles, said. “Rather than attacking Republicans, it’s time for Biden and the rest of the Democrats to do their job and provide a solution that ends their out-of-control spending spree."

It is difficult for the public to know who to blame in the debt ceiling impasse after Biden scheduled talks with McCarthy and McConnell next Tuesday following months of declining to, Brookings Institution governance studies senior fellow Darrell West added.

Almost 40% of respondents to a Washington Post-ABC poll published Friday, for example, would blame congressional Republicans if there is a default and 36% Biden. Another 16% contend both the president and the GOP would be responsible if the country cannot pay its bills when the Treasury Department can no longer use cash on hand and so-called extraordinary measures this summer. Interestingly, almost 60% agree with Biden that the debt ceiling and spending cuts should be dealt with separately. Roughly a quarter side with Republicans in that the borrowing cap should only be raised in return for spending decreases.

"In a polarized world, people assume anyone on the other side is to blame so if Congress is unable to lift the ceiling, most people [will] side with their own group so there may not be a clear political winner," West said. "It will be easy to blame the other side for the intransigence that led to a government shutdown. The president [holds] big cards in a shutdown because he gets to decide what gets shutdown first."

"One popular tactic during summertime is to close the national parks knowing that the public will be outraged and will demand an end to the stalemate," TechTank's editor-in-chief went on. "Other popular bargaining chips could be Social Security payments, veterans benefits, and food programs because each has a ready-made constituency for its cause. The only safe prediction is political blame will be unpredictable and lots of people will end up being angry if Congress cannot resolve this issue."

Biden appeared to address the debt ceiling polling divide, repeating that he hoped to speak directly with the public during remarks to reporters before a Roosevelt Room meeting.

"This is becoming an issue in other countries. 'What is the United States going to do? Are they really fooling around with not paying the debt?'" he said. "So 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. As I have said all along, we can debate where to cut, how much to spend, how to finally move the tax system where everybody has to pay their fair share or continue the route they're on, but not under the threat of default."

While Biden and Republicans may have publicly reiterated their positions, the White House is reportedly privately considering a short-term stopgap to the debt ceiling, a stance Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young confirmed during a briefing this week.

"Congressional leaders are going to have to figure out a way to do this," she said. "You saw the length in the congressional Republicans’ bill that would take us into this situation again, this time next year. So I'm sure one of the things on the table we will have to work through is how long. I'm not going to take anything off the table."

Biden and McCarthy enter the next phase of their debt ceiling showdown

Naomi Lim

April 19, 05:27 AM April 19, 05:27 AM

More than 100 days into the 118th Congress and with only months before the country could default, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) are at loggerheads over the debt ceiling and federal budget.

But McCarthy's efforts to broker a debt ceiling deal among House Republicans could backfire with only a four-vote majority, jeopardizing negotiations with the White House, the stock market, millions of jobs, and the global financial system.

DESANTIS SUPPORTERS LEAP TO HIS DEFENSE AGAINST TRUMP AHEAD OF PRIMARY FIGHT

House Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern (R-OK) is "encouraged" by McCarthy's outreach after the speaker spoke on the phone last weekend with his conference about the debt ceiling and then convened an in-person meeting Tuesday. The face-to-face was scheduled after McCarthy addressed Wall Street earlier this week.

"There seems to be a consensus among the conference on a number of issues, including bills we have already passed, that should be included in our debt limit legislation," Hern told the Washington Examiner. "There’s still hard work ahead of us, but I believe we can get 218 votes by the end of next week.”

Those bills include House Republicans' repeal of $80 billion in IRS funding, allocated through the Democrats-only Inflation Reduction Act, in addition to that measure's climate provisions — as well as the GOP-only Lower Energy Costs Act.

"A large bloc of members really want to see IRS & IRA included in the final bill," one source familiar said. "At conference this morning, there was wide support behind the inclusion of both IRA/IRS, and McCarthy seemed to be willing to have that discussion."

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is one of those lawmakers, contending, "under no circumstances," should House Republicans "pass a long-term debt ceiling increase to mortgage our kids' future without getting substantive changes."

"We need to undo the Inflation Reduction Act, so-called, which has all these ridiculous green subsidies, which would destroy our ability to have economic growth and energy freedom," he told conservative radio host Glenn Beck. "We need to undo the damage of the IRS proposal, which will hang these bureaucrats going after the American people, who are trying to just go through their life."

McCarthy is seeking a vote on a debt ceiling deal before the House's next recess from April 28. The initial agreement, tentatively whipped by Reps. Tom Emmer (R-MN) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), includes raising the debt ceiling for a year in exchange for capping nondefense discretionary spending at $584 billion next year, restricting budget increases to 1% annually for the next decade, redirecting unused COVID-19 aid, introducing social program work requirements, rescinding green tax credits, and rolling back student loan forgiveness schemes, among other ideas. But Biden has pressed McCarthy on where those cuts will come from.

During his New York Stock Exchange remarks, McCarthy was adamant "a no-strings-attached debt-limit increase will not pass," demanding Biden sit down with him to talk about the debt ceiling and budget.

"If there’s one thing I hope America has learned about me in these first 100 days since I was elected speaker, it’s this: I will never give up," he said Monday. "We owe it to the American people to use this moment in history to deliver the future they want, need, and deserve."

"Do you have the support of your party for what you’re actually proposing?” CNBC asked him afterward.

McCarthy replied, “You know what, I think I have the support of America because I’ll get the party behind it.”

Investors seemingly remain confident the White House and McCarthy will reach a deal and avoid a default. But House Republicans' response to Tuesday's meeting demonstrates the precariousness of the moment, with the conference not close to a debt ceiling raising agreement, let alone a budget, which is Biden's precondition for a conversation about spending. Simultaneously, McCarthy is grappling with reports he does not trust House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX).

The White House has criticized McCarthy's speech and his approach to the debt ceiling and budget more broadly, though at least one poll indicates the speaker may be better positioned than Biden in their competing public relations campaigns. More than 50% of respondents in McCarthy-aligned American Action Network's battleground poll this month believe the speaker is negotiating with Biden in good faith, compared to 36% who think he is not. Roughly the same percentage are against raising the debt ceiling without cutting spending, in contrast to 37% who are for it.

"Yesterday, the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, went to Wall Street," Biden said Tuesday during what was billed as a "care economy" event at the White House. "He did not tell the wealthy or the powerful on Wall Street it was finally time for them to start paying their fair share in taxes. That didn't come up, other than saying they're going to renew the $2 trillion tax cut."

White House spokesman Andrew Bates specifically ripped McCarthy for permitting "ultra-MAGA hardliners" to dominate the House Republican conference, repeating how the GOP raised the debt ceiling three times for former President Donald Trump.

"Now, the increasingly empowered extreme MAGA Republicans want their ransom to be killing tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in a windfall for China, raising prescription drug and energy costs for middle-class families, and sending the deficit skyward — all in the name of sweetheart deals for rich special interests," he said.

Schumer: ‘If Speaker McCarthy doesn’t change course, we’re are headed for default'

Samantha-Jo Roth

April 17, 03:28 PM April 17, 03:28 PM

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned the United States is “headed for default” in response to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) debt limit speech at the New York Stock Exchange, calling the speech “theater” during a press conference on Monday.

“What we got today is not a plan. It’s a recycled pile of the same things he has been saying for months,” Schumer said to reporters during a press conference.

MCCARTHY MAKES CASE FOR PAIRING SPENDING CUTS WITH DEBT CEILING FIX IN NYSE ADDRESS

McCarthy outlined a proposal to lift the nation’s credit limit for one year in exchange for significant spending cuts and policy changes to federal assistance programs on Monday. He said House Republicans could vote “in the coming weeks.” Republicans have yet to offer a budget plan that would set out specifics of where the spending cuts would fall, which President Joe Biden and Schumer have repeatedly called on them to do. Schumer rejected one of the specific details McCarthy mentioned on Monday.

“Amazingly, one of the few specifics McCarthy presented is this terrible idea to kick the can down the road for just one year and undergo the same crisis again,” Schumer said. “Why would anyone want to undergo this crisis again and again and again and again?”

DEMOCRATS IN WHITE HOUSE AND CONGRESS UNMOVED BY MCCARTHY'S DEBT CEILING SPEECH

Schumer called on the House speaker to “show us your plan,” a rallying cry he’s been using since early January. McCarthy’s speech comes as Republicans have yet to agree on a fiscal blueprint for the budget. It’s unclear whether the proposal outlined by McCarthy on Monday could pass in the lower chamber with a slim majority. His proposal appeared to be significantly narrower than demands from some in the party that included balancing the budget in 10 years.

Negotiations have been at a stalemate as both sides attempt to leverage the debt ceiling crisis to advance their own positions. Democrats remain firm in their stance that House Republicans should raise the nation’s borrowing limit with no conditions. House Republicans continue to reject that position and assert they won’t pass a debt ceiling increase unless they have an agreement with the White House on budget cuts.

The speaker sent a letter to Biden on March 28 urging him to restart negotiations, accusing him of putting the economy “in jeopardy” by refusing to negotiate. Biden and Democrats have repeatedly said a second meeting could not occur until Republicans release their proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Biden responded that day, telling McCarthy that House Republicans must first release their proposed budget ahead of a meeting.

The Treasury Department warned on Jan. 19 it was using extraordinary measures to prevent a government default. It's unclear on what date the U.S. will default, but it will likely happen in the summer if lawmakers don't come to an agreement. The Senate majority leader said he had not received any new updates from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on when a default could occur.

White House invokes Trump and Reagan to attack McCarthy's debt 'brinkmanship'

Christian Datoc

April 17, 09:27 AM April 17, 09:27 AM

The Biden White House launched a new line of debt limit attacks against House Republicans ahead of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) Monday speech in New York.

McCarthy is slated to lay out the GOP's budget proposals amid an escalating standoff with President Joe Biden over the debt limit.

MCCARTHY'S PAST WINS DON'T MATTER IF HE CAN'T DELIVER ON DEBT

McCarthy and Republicans are refusing to address the debt ceiling without extracting spending concessions from Democrats but have failed to propose specific cuts, which White House officials say is already threatening the "reliability and credibility" of U.S. credit months ahead of this summer's deadline.

"There is one responsible solution to the debt limit: addressing it promptly, without brinksmanship or hostage taking — as Republicans did three times in the last administration and as Presidents Trump and Reagan argued for in office," White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement Monday morning. "Speaker McCarthy is holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage, threatening our economy and hardworking Americans’ retirement."

Bates claimed McCarthy's speech "isn’t a plan, but it’s clear that extreme MAGA Republicans’ wish lists will impose devastating cuts on hardworking families, send manufacturing overseas, take healthcare and food assistance away from millions of people, and increase energy costs — all while adding trillions to the debt with tax cuts skewed to the super-wealthy and corporations."

The White House has pointed to how Democrats worked with Republicans to raise the debt limit in the previous administration but additionally quoted former Presidents Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan cautioning against debt ceiling "brinkmanship."

Bates pointed to remarks Trump gave in 2019 about working with then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to avoid a debt showdown.

"I can’t imagine anybody ever even thinking of using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge," Trump remarked at the time. "[I said to] Sen. Schumer and to Nancy Pelosi, ‘Would anybody ever use that to negotiate with?’ They said, ‘Absolutely not.’ That’s a sacred element of our country.”

Reagan, in a 1987 radio address, similarly claimed that debt "brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits."

"The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well-earned reputation for reliability and credibility — two things that set us apart from much of the world.”

Lawmakers return to Washington with no debt ceiling deal in sight

David Sivak

April 17, 05:25 AM April 17, 05:25 AM

It’s been three months since Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), freshly elected as speaker of the House, called on Joe Biden to negotiate spending cuts in exchange for hiking the debt limit.

Yet as Congress returns from a two-week recess on Monday, House Republicans are no closer to resolving what has become a protracted fight with the president.

‘OUR JOB IS OVERSIGHT': CONGRESS TO PROBE DAMAGING LEAK OF CLASSIFIED PENTAGON DOCUMENTS

Lawmakers fly back to Washington on Monday to consider a series of measures being voted on this week, including an effort to roll back police reforms enacted by the D.C. Council and legislation banning transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.

But looming in the background is a more daunting task for House Republicans: coalescing behind an opening offer in debt ceiling negotiations with the White House.

McCarthy's pledge to push for deep spending cuts, made to hard-liners in his conference to win the speaker's gavel, put him on a collision course with Biden, who is adamantly refusing to make concessions. McCarthy is slated to give a major speech on the debt limit at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday morning, a move reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan's own speech there 37 years ago.

The impasse threatens to send the United States into default as it approaches an unknown “X date” to lift the debt limit. The Treasury Department, which is using “extraordinary measures” to pay its federal obligations since hitting the government’s $31.4 trillion cap in January, has estimated it could run out of money as soon as June, though a late summer deadline is more likely.

That means Washington will have to agree to a deal before lawmakers depart for the monthlong recess in August.

Biden and McCarthy met at the White House for an initial meeting in February, even as the president reiterated his demand for a clean debt ceiling hike, and the pair put on a show of bipartisanship at a St. Patrick's Day luncheon six weeks later.

But no progress has been made between the two leaders with just months left to act.

McCarthy pressed for a second meeting shortly before the Easter recess, penning a letter in which he blamed Biden for not scheduling another sit-down. The move prompted the president to return the finger-pointing with a common refrain among Democrats: “Show us your budget.”

Biden argues negotiations won't be productive without McCarthy putting forward a budget that details the cuts Republicans want to make and refuses to sit down with him until then. The president says the ball is in Republicans' court after the White House released its own 2024 budget blueprint in March.

McCarthy outlined some of the possible demands in his March 28 letter, but the president quickly demanded a “full set of proposals.”

The posturing from the White House suggests the president views himself as having the upper hand in the stalemate. Republicans are historically blamed for government shutdown fights, and there’s no reason to expect the debt ceiling standoff is any different.

But more importantly, it’s not clear McCarthy has the votes needed to pass the spending cuts he’s demanding with only a four-seat majority in the lower chamber. He has to bridge the demands of hard-line members of the Freedom Caucus with the reservations of centrist Republicans up for reelection in swing districts.

Democrats are already messaging that Republicans want to slash popular programs and hurt the poor, and centrists may balk at taking a politically tough vote.

The sheer difficulty of getting the fractious Republican conference to agree on a set of demands is the greatest test yet for McCarthy’s speakership, one that has led to simmering tensions within House GOP leadership.

McCarthy has reportedly disparaged his top deputies in private, prompting blowback from lawmakers who say the speaker is trying to find a scapegoat in case their fight backfires.

But there are signs Republicans could rally around a set of demands. The Main Street Caucus, which represents a group of 70 “pragmatic” Republicans, outlined on Thursday a list of concessions it believes could get 218 votes.

The list includes clawing back some $70 billion in COVID-19 relief funds that states have not spent, reversing Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, and capping discretionary nondefense spending at 2022 levels.

The outline, sent to McCarthy in a letter on Thursday, also showed an appetite for energy permitting reform as part of a deal and called for work requirements for food stamps beneficiaries.

The demands are similar, if less expansive, than those put forward by the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus in March. Any deal would need buy-in from its 30-some members, who were able to force the concessions during McCarthy’s speakership election in the first place.

But they show some areas of consensus as House leadership tries to unite the “five families” of the GOP conference.

House Republicans are drafting legislation that includes a set of demands with the widest support, according to Politico, and hope to pass the measure by the end of May.

The legislation would amount to the GOP’s first formal offer in talks with the White House and, if passed, would signal the GOP is serious about forcing cuts.

Thus far, Senate Republicans, who lack a majority in the upper chamber, are letting the House GOP take the lead on negotiations.

Calm before the storm? McCarthy's majority holds together after 100 days

W. James Antle III

April 13, 06:00 AM April 13, 06:00 AM

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) 15 ballots to secure his job seem like a distant memory 100 days into the Republican majority, but his biggest challenges lie ahead.

Republicans have managed to pass a few bills that divide Democrats. Some of these measures have made it through the Senate, where Republicans not only lack a majority but actually lost a seat last year. President Joe Biden has even felt the need to sign some of them into law, though he has also issued the first two vetoes of his presidency during this time period.

But so much is still riding on whether McCarthy can make it through a debt ceiling showdown with Biden while neither capitulating on spending nor sending the country into default. His speakership may depend on his success.

MCCARTHY'S MOMENTUM

One thing McCarthy has succeeded in doing in helping his party overcome long odds — Republicans do not control the White House or the Senate — is identifying legislation that cannot be filibustered or kept off the legislative calendar by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to repeal regulations published in the last 60 days, is one way to do that. Resolutions of disapproval of Washington, D.C., laws are another.

The other was finding issues that divide Democrats. There is a generational and ideological split within the Democratic Party over crime. Biden is trying to push Democrats away from defunding the police while big-city mayors and councilors, such as those found in 2024 DNC convention host city Chicago, position themselves well to the president’s left.

The vote on overturning a crime bill passed by the liberal council of the District of Columbia was instructive. Washington, D.C., is suffering a crime wave, like many large, Democratic-governed urban areas. The issue limited Democratic gains in the 2020 elections and remained a liability in the midterm elections. Democrats on the D.C. Council responded by relaxing penalties for serious crimes ranging from carjackings to homicides over the mayor’s objections.

Biden and the Democrats support D.C. statehood. Short of being able to deliver that, they would like to be seen as strongly supportive of home rule. But D.C.’s three electoral votes are assured next year. The votes of suburbanites worried about urban lawlessness intruding into their neighborhoods remain vigorously contested and may prove unavailable to Democrats seen as soft on crime.

The White House issued a statement of policy saying that it opposed a Republican attempt to overturn this law, as Congress has the constitutional authority to do in the federal district. But more sober minds in the West Wing eventually won out, considering the pitfalls of defending this crime policy. Biden relented.

“I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule — but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections — such as lowering penalties for carjackings,” Biden said in a Twitter statement shortly after informing Senate Democrats in a closed-door meeting of his new position. “If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did — I’ll sign it.” House Democrats weren't tipped off accordingly.

Democrats were taken aback by Biden’s shift. Liberal activists and commentators condemned it as a sellout designed to win swing voters in 2024.

On declassifying intelligence on COVID-19 origins, Democrats did not mount even token opposition to legislation McCarthy moved to force Biden’s hand. The House passed it 419-0. It then cleared the Senate by unanimous consent.

McCarthy’s other COVID-19 victory came on lifting the national emergency. As was the case with crime in D.C., most House Democrats tried to hold the liberal line, assuming Biden was with them. Instead, the White House abandoned them.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IN THE

A loss in the debt ceiling fight, either through the failure to extend before the bills come due or the inability to deliver on any spending cuts, will obviate most of these successes. Democrats are hopeful recent history means they can prevail in this conflict.

McCarthy and his young House Republican majority are still entering in a better position than seemed likely after November's results or January's infighting.

Congressional conservatives gird for battle with Biden over debt ceiling and spending

Samantha-Jo Roth

March 22, 05:42 PM March 22, 05:42 PM

House Freedom Caucus members and "Breakfast Club" senators held a rare joint news conference, chomping at the bit to start budget and debt limit work with President Joe Biden, with the deadline to raise the nation’s borrowing limit looming.

"We're ready to go right now," Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the House Freedom Caucus chairman, said during the press conference. "If the president wants to solve this, we're all here."

FREEDOM CAUCUS REVEALS LIST OF DEMANDS IN DEBT CEILING FIGHT AFTER BIDEN BUDGET RELEASED

The group recently released a blueprint for budget cuts as a condition for a vote to raise the debt limit. The exhaustive list of demands includes measures that would cut current spending and place a cap on future spending. It would also rescind unspent COVID-19 funds, end student loan bailout programs, and repeal increased funding for the Internal Revenue Service that was part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

“All we are saying is, 'Hey, let’s check under the couch cushions, maybe. Let’s see if we can find some money hanging around somewhere that doesn’t need to be spent on some wants and put it toward some actual needs of the federal government,'” said Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX).

The White House called the House Freedom Caucus’s budget proposal a "five-alarm fire," arguing that its spending cuts would endanger the safety of the public. The Biden administration claims the proposal endangers public safety, raises costs for families, weakens national security, and hurts seniors. Democrats are also utilizing Congressional Budget Office analysis to argue that the Republican push for a balanced budget would impose devastating cuts to important federal programs.

WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES MEDIA BLITZ AGAINST FREEDOM CAUCUS 'FIVE-ALARM' BUDGET PROPOSAL

“To the press secretary over at the White House, who said our plan is to create a five-alarm fire, you’re lying,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). “I wish he would just take an economics course because spending money the way Joe Biden wants to, that is the five-alarm fire.”

A House budget resolution is expected to be delayed in order to allow for negotiations between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on a debt limit increase in exchange for spending cuts, according to Roll Call. Biden continues to say he won’t negotiate conditions to raise the debt limit.

McCarthy and Biden met initially in February and agreed to keep the lines of communication open, but no further meetings have been scheduled. "Show us your plan" has become a rallying cry from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as he and other Democrats raise the specter of cuts to food stamps, Medicaid, and other federal programs. Schumer has even goaded Republicans by questioning whether the GOP wants to cut funding to veterans and first responders.

Lawmakers still have a couple months to work out a deal. The Congressional Budget Office estimates they have between June and September to find a resolution before the nation defaults on its bills.

“We need to stop getting into a position where they can hold us up to force us to pass an omnibus, or say they’re going to shut down everything. That’s wrong,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). “What the Freedom Caucus proposed is to stop this whole process where they hold this up and then get more and more spending.”

The looming debate will likely be one of McCarthy’s most difficult challenges as speaker as he attempts to negotiate with Biden without upsetting his right flank. After the chaos of the speaker’s election, members of the caucus are standing firm on their demands, firing a warning shot at the Biden administration.

“I’d like to remind Mr. Biden that America saw what the House Freedom Caucus is made of in January,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO). “Lies don’t move us. Media coverage doesn’t move us. Attack ads don’t move us. Policy moves us.”

As the deadline draws closer, Senate Republicans are making it clear a plan to raise the debt ceiling must originate in the House, leaving negotiations to McCarthy.

“What Senate Republicans are doing, we’re supporting our counterparts in the House of Representatives and leadership and their efforts to negotiate a deal with the White House. I can’t speak to the current progress of that,” said Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate during a press conference on Wednesday. “Sometimes, all it takes is a little bit of pressure in order to get people to the table.”

Biden goes to war against Freedom Caucus ahead of debt ceiling showdown

Naomi Lim

March 15, 05:57 AM March 15, 06:20 AM

President Joe Biden has a new boogeyman as he and congressional Republicans draw their political battle lines over the 2024 budget and debt ceiling.

But as Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) did before it, the House Freedom Caucus is defending its budget against a well-coordinated attack as the country contends with the prospect of a default this summer.

SVB COLLAPSE: BIDEN RISKS RENEWED ECONOMIC WORRIES AND ANTI-BAILOUT BACKLASH

When it comes to being honest with the public, Biden "never fails to fail," according to House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) of his influential group's "budget," which, more accurately, summarizes its negotiation demands.

"Confronted with his abysmal economic record and doubling down on his crippling spending proposals, Biden goes right to another fear and smear campaign," Perry told the Washington Examiner. "For him to fearmonger using firefighters, police officers, and healthcare as his pawns is a disgusting and disingenuous distraction from the real issues facing American families and job creators.”

The House Freedom Caucus and Perry have at least one partner in the Senate: Scott. Biden, in addition to some Republicans, has spent the past year criticizing Scott for his "Rescue America" plan, a response to Biden's "American Rescue" framework, which originally pitched reauthorizing federal laws every five years. Biden responded by saying this would regularly put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block. In reaction to the scrutiny, Scott edited his website to read that the reauthorization provision "was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the U.S. Navy."

"We need to bring fiscal sanity back to Washington and I’m standing with my colleagues in the House who are showing that they give a damn about this country and will fight to fix it," the senator wrote in a statement Tuesday. "The debt ceiling is our opportunity to get something done and we cannot squander it by caving to the reckless and dangerous wishes of Biden and the Democrats.”

But Perry and Scott have not dissuaded Biden and Democrats from undermining the House Freedom Caucus's budget, particularly in the absence of a formal counteroffer from the House Budget Committee Republicans, which is expected later this spring.

Denouncing the House Freedom Caucus's budget, which, among other ideas, seeks to reintroduce “Clinton-era work requirements on welfare programs," overlooks how many members will be able to raise money off of Biden and Democrats' complaints. At the same time, they hope condemning the 45 lawmakers will pressure House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to deal with them on the debt ceiling, at a minimum.

The House Freedom Caucus's budget "speaks" to McCarthy's "political weakness," according to one senior Democratic official.

"He essentially sold his soul to win over the speakership to the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Gaetz, and Scott Perry, and all of these people, like Chip Roy, people who, at the end of the day, they feel, rightfully, can flex political muscles on the speaker of the house," he said.

For the official, the budget and debt ceiling "are intrinsically linked" to the 2024 election cycle, with Biden having "a positive, affirmative case to make," while Republicans "cannot figure out what they want to cut the most." For instance, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and speculated White House hopeful Mike Pence have endorsed Social Security and Medicare reductions on the campaign trail, he added.

"These things all go hand in hand, and what House Republicans, Senate Republicans are demonstrating to the American people is that if Republicans have the White House, if Republicans gain control, these are the priorities that they will have that are just wildly out of step with what voters are looking for and what families are looking for from their government," he said.

Biden reiterated how budgets reflect values during a fundraiser Monday night after releasing his almost $7 trillion request last week. In that document, Biden repeated his support for an expanded child tax credit, a universal $35 insulin price cap, and a 12-week national paid family and medical leave program, as well as a 25% billionaires minimum tax, a 28% corporate tax, and a 4% stock buyback tax.

Biden asserted Monday that the House Freedom Caucus represents "the extremes" and its budget would decrease veterans benefits, but "it won't cut subsidies for Big Pharma" or the deficit.

"They're not the majority, but they will be able to, I think, in [the] House, be able to be successful in terms of what they're going to do," he said. "What we're going to do is make sure that they have to make their case. ... Look, the stakes are too high for our economy, for our democracy, for our standing in the world. And I intend to build on the progress and finish the job we set out to do."

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, in addition to top spokespeople from White House communications director Ben LaBolt, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, has amplified Biden's message. In a Tuesday memo, for example, Bates emphasized how the House Freedom Caucus aims to dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act's manufacturing and energy initiatives. Young has also accused the group of "playing politics with the full faith and credit of the United States."

"When it comes to spending and what the appropriate level is, this president's happy to talk to anyone," she told CNN last weekend. "As a matter of fact, we funded the government on a bipartisan basis in December. Let's do it again. But let's not hold the debt ceiling hostage to really draconian cuts, all to help the wealthiest in this country, which we saw released by the Freedom Caucus.”

Social Security cuts vs. tax hikes: The Biden budget battle lines are drawn

W. James Antle III

March 10, 06:46 AM March 10, 06:46 AM

Whatever happens next in the debt ceiling fight between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans, the battle lines for 2024 are already drawn.

Biden is saying Republicans will gut Social Security and Medicare while the GOP shoots back that the president is going to raise taxes.

For as much as politics have changed in the last eight years, the argument between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is one that Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill would have recognized.

REPUBLICANS CONTROL THE HOUSE. NOW WHAT CAN THEY DO?

Biden workshopped his lines on the big entitlement programs for senior citizens on the campaign trail before the midterm elections last year.

Republicans have railed against tax-and-spend liberal Democrats since Biden was a senator from Delaware voting against the Reagan tax cuts.

But the battle has taken on new urgency now that Biden has unveiled his federal budget proposal while demanding that the new Republican majority in the House do the same.

“So, I want to make it clear. I'm ready to meet with the speaker anytime — tomorrow, if he has his budget,” Biden said in Philadelphia. “Lay it down. Tell me what you want to do. I'll show you what I want to do. See what we can agree on. What we don’t agree on, let’s see what we — we vote on.”

But Biden has already presented his version of what the Republicans’ budget will be, despite their denials.

“Let’s be clear about another key point of my budget,” he said. “I guarantee you I will protect Social Security and Medicare without any change. Guaranteed. I won’t allow it to be gutted or eliminated, as MAGA Republicans have threatened to do.”

The Republican budget, it seems, is either a caricature of a Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) proposal or something out of Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential campaign.

“MAGA Republicans’ proposal is not an answer on Social Security,” Biden continued. “And my budget will not cut benefits. And it will — definitely won’t sunset programs, like some of my MAGA Republican friends want to do.”Scott recently revised his plan to specifically exempt Social Security and Medicare, in response to its becoming a Biden punching bag.

Biden did acknowledge Republicans’ State of the Union denials that they will cut Social Security or Medicare, saying they had better keep their word.

“Well, guess what?” he said. “They’re all on camera.”

Republicans have their own characterizations of Biden’s plans, emphasizing that they include tax increases.

“President Biden’s ‘budget’ is dead on arrival,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) said in a statement. “It’s a campaign wishlist of tax hikes and fuzzy math that would do nothing to help Hoosiers struggling with Biden’s inflation crisis.”

“Any budget request that focuses on tax hikes and more spending rather than cutting spending and easing the economic burden on this country is deeply unserious — this budget doesn’t have an ounce of serious proposals in it,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said in a statement. “The federal government doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.”

The Republican National Committee circulated a clip of Biden making this Walter Mondale-like statement in remarks previewing the budget late last month: “I’m gonna raise some taxes.”

Mondale lost 49 states in the 1984 presidential election.

If voters believe the tax increases will be confined to the wealth and won’t curtail economic growth, the political consequences for Biden and the Democrats may be limited.

But if Social Security and Medicare are the third rail of American politics, raising taxes isn’t far behind.

The president’s job approval rating is already more than 20 points underwater, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IN THE

Further complicating matters, the battle of the budgets isn’t just about 2024. In the coming months, the debt ceiling will need to be addressed. That’s a real deadline, not just political theater.

Until then, it’s tax increases versus cutting entitlements to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy — a perennial partisan political fight as old as Biden’s career in Washington.