Biden-Carthy Updates: Biden meets McCarthy in a bipartisan wall-crossing negotiations on the $Ben+Ben$ deficit
Republican negotiators are expressing frustration at the state of staff-level talks, a day after President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met at the White House and expressed optimism that a deal could be reached to raise the debt ceiling.
“There is a significant gap between where we are and where they are,” Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday night. “Unless and until the White House recognizes that this is a spending problem, then we’re gonna continue to have a significant gap.”
Graves said no talks had been scheduled as of Tuesday evening, and that he was a top proxy for Speaker McCarthy. Graves said that he and Patrick McHenry can meet again if it’s not a readjustment of the same discussion.
Meanwhile, the White House is still talking about reducing the deficit by closing tax loopholes and raising taxes on billionaires, which has already been rejected by Republicans.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a briefing on Tuesday that the talks have yielded one agreement: default isn’t an option. She also insisted that despite the difficult nature of negotiations, the talks have been productive.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1177810037/debt-ceiling-negotiations-biden-mccarthy-updates
Bidding for more spending caps: Negotiations on debt-ceiling negotiations and the most varied economic experience of the United States
One area of stalemate between the camps is spending caps. Republicans want to bring fiscal 2024 spending in line with the current year spending level, as well as cap annual growth. They don’t think a freeze of spending at the 2023 level is enough.
McCarthy has indicated he’s not interested in a short-term solution — lifting the debt limit for weeks or a month without any conditions — as negotiators work on a deal for a longer-term plan to avoid a default.
“That is not a road to a bipartisan resolution,” he told reporters. America is in a situation right now because of that attempt to take this country on a reckless legislative joyride.
“I followed her service in government. He told reporters that she has the most varied economic experience of any person living in the US. “I don’t think there’s any wiggle room for us.”
McHenry said he expects it will take between 24-48 hours to write the text of the legislation, and reiterated the House has a rule that allows members a minimum of 72 hours to review the bill before voting on it. McCarthy said House members would come back to D.C. if there is a bill.
Graves and McHenry have praised the White House negotiating team, including Shalanda Young.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1177810037/debt-ceiling-negotiations-biden-mccarthy-updates
Frustrated Speakers: What have they been telling us about the White House? Is Secretary Kevin McCarthy worried about the House Freedom Caucus?
It has been frustrating, right? And there have been times when I think trust has been called into question,” he said, offering this analogy: “If what they’re going to do is they’re going to treat us like somebody buying a used car, and they’re gonna say, ‘Well, I gotta go talk to my manager. Oh, I’m sorry. The manager won’t drop the price, but he’ll throw in car mats’ — like, that doesn’t do it.”
McHenry added: “I think [the White House has] put severe constraints on really talented people that are in the room, and that is not in service to the deal.”
There are moments where things are rough and there are others where they are not, but there is a sense of comity in the room and Graves is in the room a bit of comedy.
The House Progressives and the House Freedom caucus may not be satisfied with the outcome of the negotiation between the White House and Speaker McCarthy’s team.
When Biden suggested that he would be happy to consider work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents who are signed up for food stamp, House progressives were already worried about a central GOP demand.
She said that she did not believe the president would call on the progressive caucus to support legislation that was contrary to progressive values. There has been no indication from the White House that they would be asking us to do that. There are multiple caucuses in the Democratic Party. Kevin McCarthy can get the votes from somewhere, but he will not get them from me.
Biden and the four congressional leaders have agreed that any deal will need to be supported by both the House and the Senate.
McCarthy has a small majority in the House, so he will need to negotiate a deal that is friendly to his conference, but not alienating the Democrats, if he wants the deal to get through.
He can’t anger the more conservative side of his party if he goes too far. McCarthy agreed to the provision that could allow for a snap vote to oust him during his fight for the speaker’s gavel.
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Young is one of the small group of people, along with longtime adviser Steve Ricchetti and Legislative Affairs Director Louisa Terrell, whom Biden has asked to lead White House negotiations with Republicans to lift the debt ceiling and stop the government from veering off a financial cliff.
“We have to be in a position where we can sell it to our constituencies,” Biden said during a meeting with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The House is almost evenly divided between conservatives and liberals, while the Senate is equally divided between conservatives and liberals. So, we got to get something that we can sell to both sides.”
Before that she was a top aide in the House of Representatives for more than a decade, where she worked behind the scenes on epic government funding battles.
It was a challenging moment for the country, costing the U.S. economy billions of dollars. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were put on leave as a result of the delays in government spending.
Nita Lowey said she was critical to helping her reach a deal that Republicans would accept in order to reopen the government.
Young had facts and caught subtle moments during talks. She even used secret hand signals to let her boss know when things were moving in the right direction — or veering off course.
Lowey said that he remembered at one point in a negotiation, she was in back of him. “pointed one finger at my back.” I’d put my fingers in my back. I could always count on her.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/25/1177903662/shalanda-young-omb-debt-ceiling-negotiations-biden
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Young earned the trust of both the Republicans and Democrats thanks to his experience of compromise in the most toxic environments.
“Shalanda is calm and composed,” said the assistant secretary of homeland security. She knows the federal budget better than anyone, and she’s always fighting for the president’s priorities.
“Highly respect them, their knowledge,” McCarthy said. “Shalanda has worked on inappropriate conduct.” Everybody in this place respects her very much.
“We saw the partisan process play out; now we need to pivot to a bipartisan process,” she told reporters during a briefing on the debt ceiling situation. “That’s the only thing that’s going to make it to the president’s desk and avoid default.”