Staff Reports
President Joe Biden has left for the G7 summit just as the U.S. is hurtling towards a June 1 default deadline, leaving Republican negotiators to pick up the slack. But, according to The Hill, the White House is refusing to budge on the debt ceiling talks, with the president’s negotiators reportedly being “unreasonable right now”. Republican negotiator Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), has even “pressed pause” on such talks, frustrated that the Democrats are unwilling to have “reasonable conversations” or show “good faith” in their negotiations. Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) expressed the need for pause and claimed that there wouldn’t be any movement by the White House until progress was made.
Furthermore, President Biden seems to be trying to brush the issue under the rug, even as the country approaches an economic cliff. McCarthy has advocated for passing the bipartisan Limit, Save, Grow Act, which contains provisions, backed by Democrats, including Biden himself when he was a senator. However, Democrats are apparently trying to backtrack and oppose work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP.
This unfortunate political quagmire has seen the House Freedom Caucus, along with prominent Republicans, come out in full support of McCarthy’s plan to cut spending, with some even going as far as to insist that they “will not be voting for cloture on any bill that raises the debt ceiling without substantive spending and budget reforms”.
Even former President Donald Trump is getting involved, using Truth Social to rally Republicans to “DO NOTFOLD”.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said debt ceiling talks are on pause. It is unclear when negotiations will resume. https://t.co/5PCu15Wqd4 pic.twitter.com/54xmkjrVWZ
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 19, 2023
The White House official attempts to assure people that the President’s team is working hard towards a reasonable bipartisan solution that can pass both houses of Congress, however, such statements are seemingly laughable given the lack of faith shown in the current negotiations. It remains to be seen how this matter will fair going forward.
Source: Townhall
