Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted that Dems would win debt ceiling talks if Republicans demanded major budget cuts.
“Unfortunately, McCarthy allowed a number of extremely radical people to exercise authority,” Schumer told Politico. “The strategy is to persuade our Republican colleagues in the House that they are flirting with calamity and endangering the American people. And to make that clear to the American people. And I believe we will triumph.”
“There will be no hostage-taking, no brinkmanship. Pass the debt ceiling,” warned the New York Democrat, who helped leverage debt ceiling and budget accords under former President Donald Trump’s term.
In response to Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who will have a meeting with President Joe Biden on Wednesday, stated, “When was the last time Biden did a budget? So he wants someone to raise the debt limit, but he won’t tell the American people where the money will go?”
Not all Dems in Schumer’s conference support McCarthy’s tough stance; Sen. Joe Manchin, who met privately with Kevin McCarthy last week, said it is “unreasonable” not to talk.
Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), head of the House Budget Committee, stated that the Republican Party seeks fundamental reforms similar to the 2011 spending limit, often known as the Budget Control Act.
On Monday, twenty-four Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Joe Biden encouraging him to support spending changes that would cut the deficit.
“Americans are acutely aware that their government is not only failing to work for them, but is actually working against them. We do not plan to vote for an increase in the debt ceiling unless fundamental changes are implemented to meet current and future economic realities and manage the out-of-control government policies,” said the Senate Republicans.
Schumer has vowed to raise the debt ceiling without Republicans if he believes they would not negotiate in good faith.
“I’ve always had a hierarchy,” the New York Democrat stated. “We’ll attempt to deal with them when we can, but when they are as extreme as they are, we have to stand firm.”
Comments are closed.