The way President Biden and the White House are conducting the debt limit discussions with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been a source of growing frustration for House Democrats.
The propaganda campaign against Republicans has allegedly been “bungled” by the White House, according to several Democrats, particularly those who may face challenging elections in 2024. They think the majority of the House Republicans’ demands could be imposed on Democrats.
“I’ve never seen a large, unexpected, and significant potential failure like this. We’ll see how this plays out, but by definition, the only metric we have for success is how much money we lost,” according to a Democrat.
Other Democrats point out that Biden will be attending the G-7 summit in Japan and that the president hasn’t recently made any public comments on the debt limit.
The Washington Post pointed out the difference between McCarthy and his senior negotiators, Representatives Garret Graves (R-LA) along with Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who have been speaking to the media often for weeks, and Biden, who has avoided discussing the debt limit.
Representative Dan Kildee (D-MI) expressed his frustration, “It’s frustrating.” He continued by saying that the speaker “feels comfortable to discuss matters in public, and that is not necessarily a productive way to try to reach an agreement.”
Republicans have resisted giving in to Democratic demands on raising the debt limit and have dug in their heels. According to McHenry, “the debt ceiling” is the one and only concession they would consider making in their situation.
Graves answered, “That’s what they’re receiving.”
According to a CNN survey, 60 percent of Americans believe that expenditure reductions should accompany a raise in the debt limit. This suggests that the American people and Republicans are on the same page.
According to one congressman, Democrats should engage in aggressive negotiation with Republicans.
One senator stated, “When somebody is only demanding cuts, that’s when you bring up demands for generating revenue or the corporate tax rate, rescind the Trump tax reductions.” The congressman suggested that the White House include discussions on gun control and other Democratic objectives.
“This isn’t a negotiating practice session. It was an exercise in making concessions,” the member continued.
The head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), warned that there would be serious consequences if Democrats give in to Republican demands.
She said, “I believe the fallout would be tremendous if we were to get forced into a terrible agreement. I believe it is really detrimental to the…people of America. Additionally, I believe it will be a disastrous dynamic for future discussions.”
