Manchin Blasts Biden For Rejecting GOP Debt Ceiling Negotiations: ‘Deficiency Of Leadership’

Topline

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) blasted President Joe Biden for refusing to negotiate with House Republicans on raising the debt limit Thursday, a day after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unveiled a list of Republican bargaining demands—as the Biden Administration doubled down on its criticism of McCarthy’s proposal.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP)

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Key Facts

Manchin said Thursday in a statement that Biden’s refusal to meet with McCarthy to discuss raising the federal government’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit to avoid triggering a catastrophic default amounts to a “deficiency of leadership.”

Manchin urged Biden and McCarthy to “work together and negotiate a compromise,” while noting it has been “more than 78 days since President Biden last met with Speaker McCarthy” (McCarthy sent a letter to Biden in March requesting a sit-down about the debt limit, but Biden has not agreed to the meeting and has instead said he would meet with McCarthy to discuss the fiscal year 2024 budget negotiations).

McCarthy on Wednesday proposed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion through March of next year in exchange for reducing federal spending to fiscal year 2022 levels and limiting future budget growth to 1%.

The legislation would also repeal tax incentives for electric vehicle manufacturers included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act—an issue that has sparked a feud between the White House and Manchin, who voted for the bill but disagrees with how it’s been implemented.

The Biden Administration responded to McCarthy’s proposal by reiterating that it would not agree to a debt limit bill that tacks on other issues, and has taken particular aim at the Inflation Reduction Act provision.

The Biden Administration on Thursday released an internal memo that claims the Inflation Reduction Act cuts could lead to job losses in Republican districts with green-energy manufacturing hubs, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green’s rural Georgia district, where a $2.5 billion solar manufacturing plant is expected to create 2,500 jobs, USA Today reported.

Key Background

The U.S. reached its $31.4 trillion debt limit in January, triggering “extraordinary measures” by the Treasury Department to stave off a default, including suspending investments in federal employee retirement plans. The federal government has never defaulted on its obligations before, and economists warn it could be economically disastrous. McCarthy—who oversees a slim majority in the House and is beholden to a coalition of right-wing lawmakers who forced him to agree to a concession during his hard-fought speaker race that allows them to more easily remove him—unveiled a baseline negotiating proposal on Thursday that includes a long list of cuts demanded by his detractors. The Biden Administration, however, has pushed House Republicans to instead negotiate spending cuts through the budget process, which must be completed before the conclusion of the current fiscal year at the end of September.

Tangent

Manchin joined a coalition of Republican senators who are also pushing Biden to come to the negotiating table in order to stave off a default, including Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), Punchbowl reported. The senators’ public expressions of support for the House bill could be a maneuver to rally support for McCarthy’s bill by signaling to their colleagues in the lower chamber that they will resist attempts by Democrats to vote against the legislation, Punchbowl notes. If Senate Republicans coalesce behind the bill and refuse to join Democrats in voting against it, they could force the Biden Administration to return to the negotiating table or risk the political consequences of being blamed for a default.

What We Don’t Know

Whether McCarthy has the 218 GOP votes in the House to pass the debt limit legislation, which could be brought to the floor as soon as next week. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) has said he will vote against the legislation, Newsday reported. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-N.C.) also said Wednesday she is “leaning no,” because McCarthy’s bill does not include a provision to balance the budget over the next 10 years.

What To Watch For

The federal government could reach its borrowing cap as early as June, Goldman Sachs predicted in a memo Tuesday that cited weak tax collections so far in April. The Congressional Budget Office initially forecasted a July-August deadline.

Surprising Fact

Manchin has been feuding with the White House about how to implement the green tax credits passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Manchin told Politico in February he’s “been raising hell” to the Biden Administration by lobbying for regulations that would require the tax credits to go to U.S. manufacturers of electric vehicles.