On Wednesday, President Biden hosted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the White House to talk about raising the debt ceiling in a way that will please both parties.
This was the first time McCarthy and Pelosi have met since McCarthy became speaker of the House last month.
Before the meeting, the White House distributed a statement outlining President Biden’s objectives for the discussion. Economic Council Director Brian Deese and OMB Director Shalanda Young wrote the memo.
Following what was discussed by Deese and Young, Biden will ask Speaker McCarthy two questions. Deese and Young added that Biden would inquire of McCarthy regarding the timing and specifics of the release of the House Republicans’ budget proposal.
According to Deese and Young, Biden will unveil his budget on March 9, and McCarthy must “promise to provide a budget” so the American people can see the Republican plan to cut the debt.
The White House is unhappy with House Republicans because they won’t agree first to lift the debt ceiling without significant spending cuts.
Since roughly two weeks ago, the federal government has borrowed up to its legal limit of $31.381 trillion to pay for things like Social Security and Medicare payouts, military salaries, tax refunds, and more.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates called Social Security and Medicare “important lifelines for the middle class that Americans pay into throughout their lives,” drawing a hard line on these programs for the Biden administration.
Now that we’ve hit the ceiling, McCarthy and the Republicans say we can talk about a more responsible approach to slowing the national debt growth.
On Tuesday, McCarthy tweeted that he had received the Deese-Young memorandum.
McCarthy stated, that he had no interest in engaging in political games. That’s why he’s come to negotiate on behalf of the American people.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates called Social Security and Medicare “important lifelines for the middle class that Americans pay into throughout their lives,” drawing a hard line on these programs for the Biden administration.
At first, McCarthy announced his meeting with Biden on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, stating that he hoped to reach a “reasonable” compromise with the president.
In December of 2021, Congress last took action to increase the debt ceiling. Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, recently predicted that the government would be able to pay its payments until early June.