President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) are set to meet on Wednesday to negotiate solutions to the country’s debt ceiling crisis, setting up a showdown as both leaders are hesitant to budge on their priorities.
The United States hit its debt limit on Jan. 19, beginning a countdown for the Treasury to miss paying a bill and raising fears of a default. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the department would take “extraordinary measures” to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its obligations, but the Treasury will only have a few months before those measures are exhausted.
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Here are three things to watch as Biden and McCarthy meet for the high-stakes meeting.
Meeting is expected to be first of many
The meeting marks the first time the pair has met one on one since McCarthy won the House speakership last month, and it comes as the White House and GOP-led House have been at odds over how to deal with the national debt limit. Not much is expected to come out of the meeting, with White House officials predicting it will be the first of “a hundred to follow,” according to Politico.
McCarthy said the country has reached a “critical point” in terms of the national debt but has maintained that any increases to the debt ceiling must be met with spending reductions. However, Democrats have refused to add spending cuts to debt limit legislation over the last several years, and the White House has repeatedly said it would not negotiate on the issue.
McCarthy pushes for less spending
The meeting on Wednesday is also expected to be a test of McCarthy’s leadership, as the House speaker must come to an agreement on how to address the debt limit while also satisfying the demands of several far-right members of his party.
“I want to find a reasonable and a responsible way that we can lift the debt ceiling but take control of this runaway spending,” McCarthy said on CBS over the weekend. “If you look at the last four years, the Democrats have increased spending by 30%, $400 billion. We’re at 120% of GDP. We haven’t been in this place to debt since World War II, so we can’t continue down this path.”
McCarthy has met with several other GOP leaders over the last few weeks to prepare for his meeting with Biden in an attempt to hash out the party’s initial demands and spending cuts. However, McCarthy is not expected to propose a hashed-out budget to Biden on Wednesday — prompting the president to push him for a more specific plan.
Biden challenges McCarthy to release budget proposal
The White House released a four-page memo on Tuesday ahead of Biden and McCarthy’s meeting, outlining the president’s talking points about his fiscal policies. Also in the memo were two questions Biden has for McCarthy, which include “Will the speaker commit to the bedrock principle that the United States will never default on its financial obligations?” and “When will Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans release their budget?”
Biden also challenged McCarthy to release the House’s budget and proposed spending cuts, particularly as the White House has been concerned the Republican leader will look to slash Medicare and Social Security in exchange for a debt ceiling raise.
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“Show me your budget, and I’ll show you mine,” Biden said, vowing to release his budget on March 9.
McCarthy has said cuts to Medicare and Social Security are “off the table” but noted the country must “look at every dollar no matter where it’s being spent.”
