House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said President Joe Biden needs to make a call on debt ceiling negotiations as the deadline to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt rapidly approaches.
McCarthy said Biden needs to have someone from the administration negotiate directly with him while on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday.
KAMALA HARRIS TAKES HER PLACE AT THE DEBT LIMIT NEGOTIATING TABLE
“The President should appoint either himself or people from his administration to negotiate directly with myself. The challenge here is the President waited 104 days until he came to this conclusion,” says @SpeakerMcCarthy on the debt ceiling. “The timeline is very short.” pic.twitter.com/5iXeKFvz0I
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) May 17, 2023
“What we really have to do is what every time before was able to do. The president should appoint either himself or people from his administration to negotiate directly with myself,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy then listed off the precedents of former Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush appointing negotiators to speak with congressional leaders but then discussed how Biden refused to negotiate with the congressional leaders for months.
“The challenge here is the president waited 104 days until he came to this conclusion,” McCarthy said. “I went in Feb. 1. I said, ‘No new taxes and no clean debt ceiling, but everything else is on the table.’ I want to be reasonable. I want to be sensible. But more importantly, I want to be responsible, but he ignored us.”
The House speaker acknowledged the White House has agreed to negotiate but stressed there is not an abundance of time before the U.S. is set to default if the debt ceiling is not raised.
“The problem is the timeline is very short, but Republicans are the only ones who have passed a bill, the Limit, Save, Grow Act, to raise the debt ceiling and actually make the economy stronger,” McCarthy said.
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McCarthy, Biden, and other congressional leaders met at the White House on Tuesday as negotiations continue on the debt ceiling, even as Biden travels to Japan on Wednesday to a meeting of the G-7. The White House did announce Biden would return from his international trip earlier than planned, canceling the Australia and Papua New Guinea stops.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. will likely default on its debts by June 1 if the debt ceiling is not raised, making for a quick deadline for Congress and the White House.
