President Biden spoke at a trade union event in Accokeek, Maryland and addressed the looming debt ceiling increase showdown. Biden called House Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s threats to link an increase to spending cuts “worse than totally irresponsible.”
Biden, who has proposed a budget and has asked McCarthy to do the same, said memorably that the GOP is refusing to talk seriously “unless I agree to all these wacko notions they have.”
(McCarthy’s spending cut proposal, upon which he says any debt ceiling negotiations must hinge, is what triggered Biden’s move to characterize the notions as “wacko.” Neither the Dems nor McCarthy propose changes to Social Security, which is a problem for the far right wing of McCarthy’s precarious coalition.)
“Folks, that’s the MAGA economic agenda,” Biden said. “Spending cuts for working- and middle-class folks…(and) tax cuts for those at the top of the pile.“ Biden repudiated McCarthy’s claim that he was trying to exercise fiscal discipline — a claim McCarthy has made by dubiously comparing the federal budget to a family’s budge.
Biden said: “It’s not about fiscal discipline. It’s about cutting benefits for folks (that) they don’t seem to care much about.”
McCarthy snapped back at Biden’s characterization, asking three prosaic rhetorical questions in a tweet.
“Does President Biden think it’s “wacko nonsense,” McCarthy asks, “to LIMIT reckless government spending, SAVE taxpayers money, GROW our economy?”
Does President Biden think it’s “wacko nonsense” to
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) April 19, 2023
✓ LIMIT reckless government spending
✓ SAVE taxpayers money
✓ GROW our economy
That’s what Republicans will do when we vote for a responsible debt limit increase. The President should stop ignoring the crisis and join us.
McCarthy also snapped that Biden had skipped town rather than negotiate, though Accokeek is just 32 miles from Washington, DC. Earlier McCarthy claimed that Biden “has been in hiding.”
President Biden’s reckless spending created record inflation, made us more dependent on China, and undermined Social Security and Medicare. Since he’s been in hiding, House Republicans will take action by passing a responsible debt limit increase. https://t.co/YS11O6kqtK
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) April 19, 2023
