McCarthy uses CBO briefing to push Biden into debt limit talks

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) targeted President Biden when he walked out of a bipartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) briefing, pushing the president to arrange another meeting to negotiate a debt limit increase.

“When the president delays our opportunity to have joint talks to help solve this problem, it only hurts our economy more,” McCarthy said on Wednesday.

In a prepared presentation, CBO Director Phillip Swagel warned that revenues under current law can’t keep up with spending and that major trust funds, including Social Security and Medicare, will be depleted within 10 years.

“The longer action is delayed, the larger the policy change needs to be,” the statement said.

Biden and McCarthy had one meeting at the White House on Feb. 1, from which the speaker left, expressing optimism about spending cut talks as a condition for raising the debt ceiling. But talks have since stalled as the White House said Republicans should first release their proposed budget.

McCarthy said Biden had not contacted him since that February meeting.

“I believe he will eventually do it, but it’s a wasted month,” McCarthy said. “This is the month that brings more doubts financially. This is the month that hurts Americans. The sooner we get together, the better it will be for all of America.”

The briefing was McCarthy’s attempt to focus on spending and debt. Congress will have to vote to raise the debt ceiling by the expected summer deadline — the exact date by which the Treasury Department’s “emergency measures” will be exhausted is unknown — to avoid serious economic repercussions.

McCarthy and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) thanked House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffreys (DN.Y.) for bringing Democrats and Republicans together for the briefing.

“We can agree to disagree with our vision, our plans and our strategies to change the curve, put us on a sustainable path and save the country from the debt crisis. But what we can’t do is disagree with the math,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Jody Arrington (R-Texas). “So today it was not about Republicans or Democrats. It’s about the mathematical reality that our country is facing.”

The Democrats, however, viewed the timing as strategic. Biden is set to release his budget on Thursday, which is expected to include higher taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, which he estimates could reduce the deficit by $2 trillion over ten years.

“He wants us to review the budget with that in mind. We can say, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We can’t spend any more. We are already in the red,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman (DN.Y.). “And it looks like our budget doesn’t really work that way.”

And rather than swaying Democrats away from Biden’s budget stance, House minority representative Katherine Clark (R-Massachusetts) said the event “lays the groundwork for the president’s budget.”

“He’s trying to make our tax code work for ordinary Americans and protect Medicare going forward,” Clarke said.

The findings, which lawmakers were briefed on during the presentation, also included projections showing federal debt held by the public was set to hit a record high in 2033, climbing to 118 percent of GDP before hitting 195 percent in 2053. by presentation slides released by CBO.

Republicans who walked out of the presentation were keen to lay the blame on the Biden administration-approved spending and pressure the White House to sit down at the spending negotiating table.

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“Speaker McCarthy has said many times that he wants to have more conversations with President Biden to figure out how to get this issue under control,” Scalise said.

Jeffries, like the White House, has indicated that the ball is on the side of the Republicans and said he hopes the House Republican Party will release the budget soon.

“We need to start from a common set of facts in order to solve the problems we face. Tomorrow, President Biden will release his budget. It will be made public and will set forth the democratic vision of building a strong economy for ordinary Americans,” Jeffries said.

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