House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will discuss how and when to raise the country’s debt ceiling on Thursday, a day after he announced he had held his first personal meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House since the Republicans adopted it. He said the talks would continue. House majority.
A California Republican told reporters at the Capitol, “I left him calling me in the next few days to prepare for the next meeting.
McCarthy said he did not discuss details of the next meeting with Biden, including whether White House officials or members of McCarthy’s leadership team would be present. If Congress doesn’t pass legislation to raise or suspend the country’s legal debt ceiling by early June, he could wreak economic havoc around the world.
Both Biden and McCarthy have said the debt ceiling bill is necessary. But they are very divided on how to do it.
“I think we need to raise the debt ceiling, but you can’t raise the debt ceiling without changing behavior, so it has to be both,” McCarthy said.
But Biden and the White House have so far refused to “negotiate” a higher debt ceiling. Instead, Biden has urged Congress to pass what he calls “clean” legislation: bills. H. No Legal Requirements. That will never happen, the Republican House Speaker said Thursday.
“We are not going to have a clean debt ceiling here without some form of spending reform, so there will never be a clean one,” McCarthy said. will do.”
Despite their differences, McCarthy said he respects Biden, stressing that the two men see a path forward and potential common ground.
“Yesterday he had a very nice conversation for over an hour,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we agreed, but we bet different positions.””By the end of the conversation, we were both like, ‘Did you know? Worth continuing. So we keep doing it. “
Biden said much the same thing about McCarthy in his remarks at Thursday’s annual bipartisan National Prayer Breakfast.
“Let’s start by treating each other with respect,” Biden said. “That’s what Kevin [McCarthy] and I do.”
“We had a good meeting yesterday,” Biden continued. “That doesn’t mean we can’t agree and fight like hell. But let’s treat each other with respect.”
The friendly mood between Biden and McCarthy on Thursday was in stark contrast to the bitter debate in the House just before Republicans voted to fire Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Relations Committee. The move follows some of her earlier statements, many of which have been described as anti-Semitic, including anti-Semitic posts she made while in the House of Representatives in 2019. It included a tweet that repeated the metaphor of
On Thursday, more than a dozen Omar Democrats gave impassioned speeches for her, including several members of the Jewish House of Representatives.
Democratic senator. Michigan’s Rashida Tribe, holding back tears, lashed out at Republicans for targeting Omar. She wrote, “The Republican Party is doing what it does best. It’s weaponized by its hatred of beautiful black Muslim women.” “I’m sorry to her sister that our country has let you down today. “
To her, Omar was rebellious. “I didn’t come to parliament to be silent, I came to parliament to be their voice,” Omar said. “And my absence from this committee for some time has not diminished my leadership and my voice. My voice has grown louder and stronger.”
