Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, one of President Joe Biden’s chief negotiators on the debt ceiling deal with House Republicans, praised House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and his team on Sunday as “very professional.”
Young was one of three lead negotiators on behalf of Biden in the talks, which produced the Fiscal Responsibility Act. The bill, which passed both chambers of Congress this week before being signed into law on Saturday, contained wins and losses for both sides that led to bipartisan defections. Spending cuts were derided as too modest by some House Republicans and too extreme by other House Democrats. On the Senate side, members from both parties were outraged over the defense spending rates being out of step with inflation.
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Still, Young and her fellow negotiators received bipartisan praise for averting a debt default before the June 5 “X-date” deadline.
Asked how McCarthy handled the negotiations on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Young told the network, “I didn’t know him personally. I know him a little better now after this process. And it was a very professional working relationship with him and his team. I got a lot of day care drop-off time with [House Financial Services Committee] Chairman Patrick McHenry [R-NC]. It’s always good to have parents with small children who know your pain in that room.”
“He and his team, I really do appreciate the way they approached this,” she added. “Look, people say what they need to say outside. It matters what we do in the room, and that’s what our focus was.”
McCarthy and McHenry, who was one of McCarthy’s two lead negotiators in the talks, has also spoken highly of Young in the month since discussions entered their final stretch.
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“Everybody in this place knows her, respects her greatly,” McCarthy told reporters in early May.
“[Biden] sent warriors up here on behalf of his administration,” McHenry said late last month at a press gaggle after referencing Young by name. “That’s who he sent up. That’s who we’re negotiating with. They’re a highly credible team, they’re a tough negotiating team, these are tough discussions that we’re having. But they’re honest. We’re honest with each other.”
