President Biden issued a challenge to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday amid rising tensions over the debate over raising the federal debt ceiling: “Show me your budget and I’ll show you mine.”
Biden made the comments while responding to a CNN question about what his message to McCarthy would be during the next meeting between the two, scheduled for Wednesday at the White House.
McCarthy said the discussions it would revolve around raising the debt ceiling, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said had been reached on Thursday.
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (left) and President Joe Biden (right).
(AP)
“President Biden: I accept your invitation to sit down and discuss a responsible increase in the debt ceiling to address irresponsible government spending,” McCarthy tweeted Friday afternoon. “I look forward to your meeting.”
On the same day, Biden confirmed to Politico that the discussion would be about debt, however a White House official later insisted that the meeting would be “general” and not specific to the debt ceiling.
The official repeated the position previously expressed by the administration that the debt ceiling was “not a negotiation.”
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US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a meeting with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema at the State House in Lusaka, Zambia on January 23, 2023.
(AP Photo/Salim Dawood)
Last week, Republican senators insisted that Biden “negotiate” the debt ceiling, with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, calling the president’s anti-negotiation stance “unreasonable and ridiculous.”
The growing US national debt stands at $31.4 trillion, while the federal government’s annual budget currently operates at $6.3 trillion, nearly $2 trillion more than it was spending annually before the coronavirus pandemic. .
White House Earlier this month, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the debt ceiling negotiations and whether Biden is willing to “cut any spending” or would be willing to negotiate with Republicans who “want to cut spending as part of a debt limit agreement.
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Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, with his fellow Republican senators at a news conference on the national debt on Wednesday, January 25, 2023.
(Fox business)
“Look, as you’ve heard us say before, we’re not going to do any negotiations on the debt ceiling,” Jean-Pierre said.
Brie Stimson and Peter Kasperowicz of Fox Businesses contributed to this report.
