President Joe Biden said on Sunday that Republicans in the US House must move off their “extreme positions” on the now-stalled talks over raising America’s debt limit and that there would be no agreement to avert a catastrophic default only on their terms.
“It’s time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, on their partisan terms,” Biden said in Hiroshima, Japan, where he attended the Group of Seven summit. Biden said he had done his part in trying to raising the debt ceiling so the US government can keep paying its bills. “Now it’s time for the other side to move from their extreme position,” he said.
Biden and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., were expected to talk later Sunday, likely as Biden flew home on Air Force One after cutting short his trip in light of the strained negotiations.GOP lawmakers are holding tight to demands for sharp spending cuts, rejecting the alternatives proposed by the White House for reducing deficits.
Republicans want work requirements on the Medicaid health care program, though the Biden administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage. The GOP also introduced new cuts to food aid by restricting states’ ability to wave work requirements in places with high joblessness.
That idea, when floated under President Donald Trump, was estimated to cause 700,000 people to lose their food benefits.
GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts to IRS funding and asking the White House to accept provisions from their proposed immigration overhaul.The White House has countered by keeping defense and non defence spending flat next year, which would save $90 billion in the 2024 budget year and USD 1 trillion over 10 years.
“I think that we can reach an agreement,” Biden said.
Republicans had also rejected White House proposals to raise revenues in order to further lower deficits.Among the proposals the GOP objects to are policies that would enable Medicare to pay less for prescription drugs and the closing of a dozen tax loopholes.
Republicans have refused to roll back the Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and wealthy households as Biden’s own budget has proposed.For months, Biden had refused to engage in talks over the debt limit, insisting that Congress was trying to use the borrowing limit vote as leverage to extract other policy priorities.But with the US Treasury Department saying that it could run out of cash as soon as June 1 and Republicans putting their own legislation on the table, the White House launched talks on a budget deal that could accompany an increase in the debt limit.
“It’s time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, on their partisan terms”
-Joe Biden said in the G7 summit