ABC News pressed the White House Thursday about the two major business lobbying groups now calling on President Joe Biden to discuss a potential default and future spending with Republicans, but the White House remains firm that they will not speak if the two issues are tied together.
When asked if the President will sit down with Speaker Kevin McCarthy right now on the budget — as he said he would on Wednesday), Karine Jean Pierre responded that “What [the Republicans] put together is an agenda, an extreme MAGA wish list that basically says they’re connecting the two, right? They’re saying to … the President, that we have to go with this agenda in its full form. And the President has said really — really, really clearly, when it comes to the debt ceiling, they cannot allow this to happen.”
After the bill passed by a razor-thin 217-215 margin, House Speaker McCarthy said “The president can no longer ignore” the issue by not negotiating with the House Republicans.”
While the House debated the measure, Biden indicated he was willing to open the door to talks with McCarthy, but not on preventing a first-ever U.S. default that would shake America’s economy and beyond. When asked if the White House needs it to be a clean debt limit bill, without spending cuts, for the president to start talking with the speaker, Jean Pierre responded “We have said very clearly, they need to deal with what’s at stake here, what’s at hand. Which is the … economy, which is making sure that we do not default. We cannot be — we have never been — we’ve never been a deadbeat nation.
Source-ABC
