BIDEN PRESSES MCCARTHY FOR BUDGET CUT DETAILS
President, House speaker to meet at White House today
President Joe Biden will ask House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, today for details on what budget cuts his party is demanding in order to raise the federal debt limit and for assurances that McCarthy will not accept an economically debilitating government default, White House officials said.
The demands, outlined in a memo that the White House released Tuesday, are an attempt by Biden to force Republicans to engage in a debate over taxes, spending and debt on terms that are more favorable to the president than to newly empowered conservatives on Capitol Hill.
Biden is seeking to force McCarthy to specify which programs he would cut — a list that most likely includes some spending that is popular with the public — and to calculate how much Republicans would add to the debt with additional tax cuts. In the memo, Brian Deese, the director of the National Economic Council, and Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the president would release his annual budget March 9 and asked when McCarthy would do the same.
“It is essential that Speaker McCarthy likewise commit to releasing a budget, so that the American people can see how House Republicans plan to reduce the deficit — whether through Social Security cuts; cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act health coverage; and/or cuts to research, education and public safety — as well as how much their budget will add to the deficit with tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations,” Young and Deese wrote.
McCarthy responded to the memo in a tweet on Tuesday, saying “I received your staff’s memo. I’m not interested in political games. I’m coming to negotiate for the American people.”
Biden is set to meet with McCarthy at the White House today. Administration officials have said the discussion will touch on a wide range of topics, but its principal backdrop is the threat by the House speaker and his caucus not to increase the debt limit unless Biden agrees to steep cuts in federal spending.
The president has said he will not negotiate over raising the limit, which the government reached this month. Economists warn that the country could experience financial crisis and recession if lawmakers do not raise it before the government runs out of its ability to pay its bills.
But Republicans so far have not listed specific demands for raising the limit or released an official budget. McCarthy and other top Republicans have preferred to frame the debate in more general terms, accusing Democrats and Biden of out-of-control spending.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana suggested that House Republicans would outline their budget priorities in April and criticized Biden’s stance.
“President Biden said, ‘Just give me more money,’” Scalise said. “He just wants to spend more money; said he wouldn’t even have a conversation with Speaker McCarthy. That’s an untenable position.”