House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and President Joe Biden at a White House meeting on Nov. 29, 2022. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images.
President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) plan to meet to discuss raising the debt ceiling after the U.S. Treasury reached its borrowing limit on Thursday, their offices said Friday.
Why it matters: McCarthy is taking a hard line on slashing government spending in exchange for raising the debt limit amid pressure from his right flank — cuts that the White House maintains are non-negotiable.
Driving the news: Asked at a Friday briefing about whether the two would sit down to negotiate the debt limit, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden is “looking forward to meeting with Speaker McCarthy … about a range of issues,” but that no date had been set.
- McCarthy responded in a tweet: “President Biden: I accept your invitation to sit down and discuss a responsible debt ceiling increase to address irresponsible government spending. I look forward to our meeting.”
- Jean-Pierre reiterated in a statement later on Friday that Biden “looks forward” to their meeting but said the debt limit “is not a negotiation … Congress has always done it, and the President expects them to do their duty once again.”
What caught our eye: Jean-Pierre, in her statement Friday evening, took aim at Republican initiatives to cut entitlement spending and overhaul federal taxation by replacing income and other taxes with a 30% national sales tax.
- Biden, she said, “looks forward to learning more about those plans, as well as to telling them about his plan to cut the deficit … strengthen retirement programs, invest in key priorities, and fund it all by making the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.”
- “We are going to have a clear debate on two different visions for the country … and the President is happy to discuss that with the Speaker.”
What we’re hearing: The GOP hardliners who denied McCarthy the speaker’s gavel for nearly a week — and now have a nuclear button in their back pocket in the form of the motion to vacate the chair — told Axios last week they expect him to hold firm on his commitments to force spending cuts.
- “We expect the agreement to be performed. We sure do … I think he’s going to perform,” said Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.).
- Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said he believes McCarthy will follow through because a 10-year plan to balance the budget was key to flipping his vote for speaker.
- “I think he will, because that was the whole thing that I got involved with. We had to have that,” Norman said.
Yes, but: None of the right-wingers were willing to entertain the notion of a default on U.S. debt — or forcing a vote on ousting McCarthy if he falls short or cuts a deal with Democrats.
- “Some of the people on Wall Street are going to start squawking about default. We’re not going to default. We’re not,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), “But we need to have an honest conversation … [about] spending money we don’t have.”
- “We will get the cuts. We will get the cuts,” said Norman, who said of the motion to vacate: “I don’t think it will come to that.”
- “I don’t think we’re going to have to” use the motion to vacate, said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), “I think that we’re going to trust [McCarthy] at his word.”
The bottom line: “Everybody is a fiscal conservative until the cuts come and affect the different states,” Norman said of his fellow Republican lawmakers. “That’s where we’ve got to hold tight.”
