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.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he will meet with Joe Biden on Wednesday to discuss preventing a US debt default, but cautioned the president that his refusal to contemplate spending cutbacks in return for lifting the borrowing limit must be reconsidered.

“I want to find a sensible and responsible method to raise the debt ceiling,” the Republican leader said on CBS Sunday’s “Face the Nation.

McCarthy’s meeting with the president will be his first since becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives earlier this month after Republicans took control of the chamber.

Raising the national debt ceiling, which permits the government to pay for previously incurred expenses, is a common occurrence.

Members of the new Republican House majority, however, have threatened to obstruct the normal rubber-stamping of any increase over the current $31.4 trillion.

Biden argues the issue is unresolvable, accusing Republicans of holding “the economy hostage” in order to force a purely political debate on federal spending.

Biden’s official agenda stated only that he would address “a range of problems” with the Republican speaker, underscoring the White House’s inability to even characterize the meeting as a negotiation.

Raising the debt ceiling is “a duty of this country and its leaders to avert economic calamity,” according to White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre. “Congress has always done it, and President Biden wants them to do it again.”

“That is not a debatable point.”

Crisis alert

This sets the scenario for a high-stakes fight in the coming weeks or months.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that a US debt default could spark a worldwide financial disaster, raising borrowing costs and eroding the dollar’s status as an international reserve currency.

To give the two sides more time to work out a solution and prevent a default, the Treasury Department began using “extraordinary measures” on January 19 to temporarily decrease the amount of outstanding debt subject to the limit.

Yellen stated that if no deal is reached, a default may happen as early as June.

While McCarthy expressed confidence that “there won’t be a default,” he emphasized that Democrats were responsible for historically high spending levels within the first two years of Biden’s presidency.

“We can’t keep going down this road,” he stated on CBS.

‘Give us a choice.’

A Democratic congressman from Washington state, Adam Smith, pushed back, claiming Republicans had failed to specify where they would make cuts.

“Right now, Republicans lack a strategy,” he stated on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Their goal, as driven by their party’s radicals, is to scream about spending while failing to increase the debt ceiling and failing to present a plan that says, ‘This is where we’re going to cut.'”

“Give us an alternative, and then we can fight about it,” he continued.

McCarthy, on the other hand, expressed hope that a compromise could be made to avoid default.

“I would like to sit down with the President and hammer out an arrangement so that we can go forward and get back on track,” the speaker added.

“I believe the president will be willing to reach an arrangement with us,” he continued.

According to Jean-Pierre, the meeting on Wednesday will also examine the president’s plan to reduce the US budget deficit “by having the affluent and major businesses pay their fair share,” rather than slashing politically sensitive social spending, as some Republicans propose.

As the war gets close to the one-year milestone, President Biden said Wednesday afternoon that he has authorized sending 31 Abram tanks to Ukraine.

“As springtime draws near, Ukrainian soldiers are striving to protect the ground they control and getting ready for more counteroffensives to free their territories. In the very near future, they must be able to defeat Russia’s shifting strategy and tactics on the battlefield. They need to be better at navigating broad terrain and improving their maneuverability, and they also need to develop durable defenses that can withstand long-term Russian aggression,” according to Biden.

He continued, “Today, I’m declaring that the United States will supply 31 Abram tanks to Ukraine, which is the same as one Ukrainian battalion.”

Although Biden did not address the price tag, the Department of Defense soon after his speech disclosed a $400 million package in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI).

The Department of Defense stated in a news release that “this $400 million USAI package signifies the beginning of a contractual process to supply further capabilities to Ukraine.”

Along with 31 Abrams main combat tanks, eight tactical vehicles for equipment recovery, support equipment, and vehicles, and funds for training, maintenance, and sustainment, the package would also include ammunition for 120mm rounds.

Since January 2021, the United States has pledged $27.8 billion in security aid to Ukraine. Since then, the U.S. has invested over $113 billion in Ukraine altogether.

“As quickly as feasible,” Biden promised, Ukrainian forces would get training in logistics, maintenance, and sustainment, as well as the replacement parts and tools required to keep tanks operational.

“Delivering these tanks to the field,” he added, “will take time.” He and senior defense officials who briefed reporters earlier did not specify when the tanks would arrive or when Ukrainian military would get tank operation training.

“Another Forever War — while Communist China runs rampant, undaunted,” tweeted Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO).

Although defense experts have long voiced doubts that the advanced tanks were the best equipment for Ukrainian soldiers at the time owing to the challenging training and maintenance needs, Biden claimed that Secretary Of defense Lloyd Austin had endorsed the action.

However, the decision was made under strong international pressure to deliver the tanks.

A break in the deadlock among NATO allies on whether to send sophisticated tanks to Ukraine was signaled earlier in the day when Germany declared it would send 14 Leopard 2 tanks there. The United States had encouraged Germany to provide Leopard 2 tanks, but Germany was hesitant to do so without a guarantee that the United States would also supply Abrams tanks.

By declaring, “We wanted to ensure we were all together,” Biden refuted claims that Germany had compelled him to send the tanks.

Zelensky’s birthday is today, according to Biden, who also sent him birthday greetings.

“We are with you for as long as it takes, Mr. President,” he continued.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) claimed House Republicans are “adamant” about preserving entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare while legislators debate the debt ceiling.

Banks’ remarks came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen notified House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last week that the United States had reached its $31.3 trillion debt cap. Yellen assured McCarthy that she would take “exceptional steps” to keep the US from defaulting on its debt.

According to Banks, House Republicans have a “responsibility to use the majority the American people gave us to address genuine spending reforms.”

“So The debt ceiling sets up a chance for us to have a meaningful dialogue. I hope Democrats will come to the table,” added Banks. “I’m hoping President Biden will come to the table. I hope that Senate Leader Schumer and the Senate Democrats would sit down with House Republicans and see where we can all agree. That is the essence of a negotiation.”

“Do you want Medicare and Social Security to be discussed as part of these talks?” Costa inquired of Banks.

“No,” Banks said decisively. “I can speak for the great majority of Republicans in the majority: I don’t think any of us would like to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or other programs on which seniors and others rely today or will eventually depend on.”

“Now, there’s an intense effort in the Republican Party, as strong as I’ve ever seen, not to touch those programs. We may make modifications in the future — far into the future — to safeguard systems like Social Security for future generations,” Banks continued.

Banks recommended slashing spending for “bloated” federal departments during the pandemic.

“I believe those are areas where we could begin, but the simple approach today is to look at where we can minimize needless spending,” Banks stated. “I mean, trillions of dollars were spent in the name of COVID — some of it to address the pandemic, but a lot of it didn’t have anything to do with the pandemic — that inflated every single government department.”

Banks has warned that unless Congress makes serious reforms, the next generation of Americans would “carry the weight of a $32 trillion, and increasing, national debt. And if we simply punt on it and approve a clean debt ceiling hike once more,” he said, “then my daughter’s generation, our kids and grandkids, will watch that $32 trillion national debt rise to 40, 50 trillion, and beyond.”

Banks’ remarks reflect former President Donald Trump’s advice to House Republicans to take entitlement programs off the agenda during debt ceiling talks.

“Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to sacrifice a single cent from Social Security or Medicare to help pay for Biden’s irresponsible spending spree, which is more reckless than anything our country has ever done or had,” Trump stated.