Biden huddles with Democrats amid brewing fights over debt ceiling and documents

DEMOCRATS TURN ON BIDEN OVER CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CONTROVERSY

Biden’s meeting with top House and Senate Democrats on Tuesday was scheduled after the debt ceiling was reached last week, prompting the Treasury Department to implement “extraordinary measures” so it can avoid a default until about June. Their discussions coincide with political machinations, as each party tries to portray the other as irresponsible, and contingency planning should the White House continue insisting it will not negotiate and House Republicans continue demanding spending cuts. One of those plans includes using a parliamentary process known as a discharge petition, in which only a handful of GOP votes is required to prevent another credit rating downgrading akin to 2011.

“Apparently, [Republicans] are genuinely serious about cutting Social Security, cutting Medicare, and I love their 30% sales tax,” Biden said Tuesday in the White House’s Roosevelt Room. “I have no intention of letting the Republicans wreck our economy, nor does anybody around this table.”

“Let’s see what their plan is. Let’s see what their plan is on the debt ceiling,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) added outside afterward.

The White House and Democrats have projected confidence House Republicans will concede and raise the debt ceiling without, for example, entitlement reform to Social Security and Medicare programs, particularly if they target the 18 GOP lawmakers representing districts Biden won in 2020. But while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has signaled his willingness to sit down with Biden, members of his conference have simultaneously demonstrated their ability to make a point, taking 15 ballots to elect him speaker. A date has not been confirmed for the McCarthy conversation. Former President Donald Trump has underscored his opposition to entitlement reform despite it being a provision in McCarthy’s speakership deal.

“They’re not reading the room correctly,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), one of those 18 Biden-district Republicans, told the Washington Examiner. “We call ourselves ‘Main Street Republicans.’ We’re pragmatic. We want to govern. But that doesn’t mean that we’re going to get rolled and get nothing in return from the president. There’s got to be a reasonable compromise, and then you’ll see some of us come on board.”

“We’ve got to be realistic, but I’m not going to sign a discharge petition with the president not negotiating,” Bacon said.

Shortcomings in the White House’s congressional outreach strategy were similarly emphasized Tuesday evening when a number of House Republicans snubbed a reception Biden hosted for freshmen lawmakers.

“I appreciate the White House inviting me to a party, but as I told the president, our country has too many challenges that need my attention,” Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-TX) tweeted. “Besides, I have a call with my kids at that time — and I’m more of a Shiner Bock and Taco Palenque girl, anyway.”

For one House Republican aide, there remains “plenty of room to pressure the White House into at least sitting down and talking with us” as panels, such as the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, start requesting documents and testimony from the administration over the classified materials scandal. The White House issued its first response this week, informing House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) it is no longer in possession of the disputed records.

“It’s the first time this White House has ever had to deal with serious people looking at it,” the staffer said. “It’s the first time they’ll have to handle real hard questions from folks like you in the media. They’ve been able to dodge a lot of that up to this point, and that changes as of now.”

House Republicans have additionally seized on criticism of Biden from Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who has described the White House’s beginning debt ceiling negotiating position as “not responsible” and a “mistake.”

“Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin was correct when he said yesterday that ‘we have to negotiate’ on a responsible debt limit increase,” McCarthy spokesman Mark Bednar said. “In the same spirit, in 2011, when then-Vice President Joe Biden participated directly in debt limit negotiations (so much so that the press referred to the group as the ‘Biden Group‘), he noted that ‘everyone wants an agreement.'”

Until last week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had been adamant that Biden and his advisers would not negotiate with Republicans over the debt ceiling, contending it should be raised “without conditions.” She and her communications teams have repeated, too, that the debt ceiling has been lifted 78 times since 1960, thrice during Trump’s administration, and that Biden has decreased deficits during the first two years of his term.

“I talked about this last week, how the office of Leg Affairs has been doing outreach to new members of Congress, in particular, to let them know who is their point of contact, what conversations, opening up for conversations on things that are important to them,” Jean-Pierre said Monday of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. “So we are having those conversations and will continue to engage with Congress. But again, this should be done without conditions.”

Even the possibility of a default has caused economic damage in the past, her colleague Andrew Bates went on Tuesday, alluding to 2011.

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“Under the guise of ‘fiscal responsibility,’ they want to cut the benefits that middle-class Americans pay for throughout their working lives, but they also want to enlarge the deficit with new tax giveaways for the wealthiest Americans,” he said. “This is nothing more than an extreme plot to sell out middle-class families to rich special interests at any cost.”