McCarthy Mocks Biden Amid Debt Ceiling Standoff—Offering To Bring 'Soft Foods' To Negotiating Table

Topline

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) launched a personal attack against President Joe Biden on Thursday, as negotiations between the White House and GOP lawmakers surrounding two high-stakes fiscal issues—the debt ceiling and the federal budget—are deadlocked.

U.S. President Joe Biden (L) sits next to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during the … [+] National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol on February 02, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

McCarthy offered Thursday to meet with Biden “tonight” to discuss increasing the U.S.’s federal borrowing limit, and offered to bring “soft foods” to a White House lunch if Biden would agree to a sit-down, an apparent nod to the president’s age (at 80, Biden is the oldest president in history).

The offer is a non-starter, however, as the White House has repeatedly called on Congress to pass a debt ceiling increase with no strings attached and said it will not negotiate with Republicans on increasing the borrowing limit, which the federal government is expected to reach some time in late summer.

The Biden Administration, which is pushing the GOP to instead negotiate its spending priorities through the budget process, launched a fresh wave of attacks against Republican leaders on Thursday, releasing an internal memo that highlights McCarthy’s and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s (La.) statements in January that they would use the budget as the main vehicle for their spending priorities, Axios reported.

In one of the interviews unearthed by the White House, McCarthy told CBS: “our very first responsibility, we both should have to pass a budget . . .so the country can see the direction we’re going.”

The attacks underscore the White House’s strategy of deflecting GOP demands to negotiate over the debt ceiling by highlighting the fact that Republicans still haven’t unveiled a formal counterproposal to Biden’s budget (which the White House released earlier this month, also a month behind schedule).

Crucial Quote

McCarthy on Thursday indicated Republicans could work around the White House and pass their own debt ceiling bill, telling reporters the conference is “very close” to coming to an agreement. “We have been reasonable, responsible, asked to sit down with the president for months. He is making the decision that he wants to put the economy in jeopardy. I don’t know what more I can do,” he said.

Key Background

House Republicans and the White House have come to an impasse over two high-stakes spending issues this year: the fiscal year 2024 budget and the debt ceiling. The U.S. reached its $31.4 trillion borrowing limit in January, prompting the Treasury Department to take “extraordinary measures” to stave off a default and temporarily ensure the government can pay its bills. Those measures are expected to expire sometime in late summer, so Congress must agree to raise the debt ceiling sometime before then or risk an economically catastrophic default on the government’s obligations. McCarthy, in a letter to Biden sent Tuesday, criticized his administration for refusing to negotiate on the debt limit, calling Biden’s position “extreme,” while floating several proposals that could convince his conference to agree to a debt ceiling increase, including rolling back unspent Covid-19 relief funds, more border security and lowering energy costs. The White House fired back by reiterating its position that House leadership should present a counter-budget proposal if it wants to negotiate government spending, urging “Republicans to stop playing games, agree to a pass a clean debt ceiling bill, and quit threatening to wreak havoc on our economy,” Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates said.

Tangent

Internally, Republicans are locked in their own disagreement about how to deliver spending cuts and balance the budget, while adhering to their promises to maintain Social Security and Medicare spending. The divisions were on full display last week, after Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said the GOP would soon release a plan laying out its spending priorities. McCarthy, in turn, dismissed the promise, telling reporters “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

What To Watch For

The White House is expected to release a fact sheet on Thursday that outlines how the spending cuts the GOP has floated would impact federal programs in each state, The Hill reported.

McCarthy Mocks Biden Amid Debt Ceiling Standoff—Offering To Bring ‘Soft Foods’ To Negotiating Table