CNN
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A White House official confirmed that President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet on Wednesday.
The meeting comes at a time when the Treasury Department continues to take extraordinary steps to keep the government paying after the US hits the debt ceiling set by Congress.
“We want to find a rational and responsible way to control this runaway spending while raising the debt ceiling,” McCarthy said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
“So I want to sit together and make an agreement that we can move forward so that we can all be on a path of balance at the same time.
Hardline Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, have called for the removal of the borrowing cap to be tied to spending cuts.
But the White House has said it will not offer any concessions or negotiate an increase in the debt ceiling. , there is growing concern that the country will default on its debts for the first time in its history, or come dangerously close to defaulting on its debts.
At the conference, Biden told McCarthy, “Like every other House and Senate leader in U.S. history, and as promised by leaders McConnell, Schumer, and Jefferies, we will demand a national default.” It will be a reminder of our constitutional obligation to prevent,” the spokesperson said. In a statement to CNN. “He will emphasize that we cannot take the economic security of all Americans hostage and force unpopular cuts on working families.”
A spokesperson said, “The president will ask what the chairman’s plan is because the first bill he floored would increase the deficit by more than $100 billion to protect wealthy tax fraud. Because other proposals from House Republicans would cut Social Security, Medicare, and other important programs earned by working families and seniors.”
McCarthy on Sunday suggested that defense spending could come under consideration, but made it clear that cuts to Social Security and Medicare were not an option.
“Our first responsibility is that we both have to pass the budget. But we can’t continue with this inflationary spending that has led to economic problems.We have to control our spending.”
Earlier this month, White House Press Secretary Carine Jean-Pierre said the two would meet on a variety of topics, but insisted that raising the debt ceiling was “non-negotiable.”
“President Biden looks forward to meeting Speaker of the House McCarthy to discuss a variety of issues as part of a series of meetings with all new congressional leaders early in the year,” Jean-Pierre said. “As the President has said many times, raising the debt ceiling is not a negotiation. It is the duty of this country and its leaders to avoid economic disruption.”
