Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
President Joe Biden continues to refuse to negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling and is now threatening to veto the conservatives’ spending bill that would raise the federal limit while slashing federal spending.
Tuesday, the White House budget office called the Republicans’ Limit, Save, Grow Act “a reckless attempt to extract extreme concessions as a condition for the United States simply paying the bills it has already incurred.”
The Republican bill — which could pass the House as early as Wednesday — would cut federal spending by $3.2 trillion while capping future funding at 2022 levels. It would also trim about $4.8 trillion off the national debt over the coming 10 years, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.
“The Speaker of the House went to Wall Street last week to propose huge cuts in important programs that cut all discretionary funding by 22 percent, including … programs millions of working- and middle-class Americans count on,” Biden said during remarks to a trade union conference. He later added, “they’re saying if they get their way … if Biden doesn’t agree with them and agree to all the cuts … and these tax increases for others, working people, they’re going to let the country default on its debt.”
Biden’s decision to stand firm was met with a wave of anger from the right. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) accused Democrats of being melodramatic about reverting spending to a rate it was at only a year ago.
“Dems claim that the House GOP’s ‘Limit, Save, Grow Act’ capping spending at FY2022 would mean disaster,” McCarthy tweeted. “But those same Dems couldn’t brag enough when they enacted that exact spending plan.”
McCarthy included a link to an article from TownHall.com that recounts the vastly different rhetoric Democrats used in 2022 compared to 2023.
Dems claim that the House GOP's "Limit, Save, Grow Act" capping spending at FY2022 would mean disaster.
But those same Dems couldn't brag enough when they enacted that exact spending plan.
Receipts proving their hyperbolic hypocrisy is utter nonsense:https://t.co/CNnAXDMoMw
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) April 25, 2023
The sparring between Biden and McCarthy is not new and comes at a time when calls for negotiation have been amplified on both sides.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were among the more prominent legislators to call for cooperation.
“[The] President is refusing to engage,” McConnell said from the Senate floor. “Even as his own advisors say the debt ceiling is approaching fast, the White House is totally M.I.A. His position has been no negotiation and no reforms.”
McCarthy has accused the Senate of dragging its feet as the debt crisis looms
“The Senate has done nothing. The President has done nothing,” McCarthy tweeted. “The House will lift the debt ceiling and limit the growth of Washington spending.”
The Senate has done nothing.
The President has done nothing.
The House will lift the debt ceiling and limit the growth of Washington spending. pic.twitter.com/TdYXHC9jou— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) April 26, 2023
It’s important to note that while Republicans are floating a bill to raise the debt ceiling, they’ve been hesitant to give an inch to Biden even as the threat of default increases.
“This is a debt that took over 200 years to accumulate,” Biden said. “The last administration alone increased the debt by nearly 40 percent … in four years. And every single time, they passed the debt ceiling without any question.
“Default would be totally irresponsible. I mean, it would mean cuts in Social Security and Medicare, higher interest rates for your credit cards, car loans, [and] mortgages. The entire economy would be put at risk.”