Susan Walsh/AP
The White House is standing firm on its insistence that raising the debt limit be kept separate from talks about federal spending, President Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients said in an interview.
Zients made his comments after Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy released a legislative framework that would raise the debt limit for a year while cutting spending to 2022 levels.
McCarthy urged Biden to negotiate to avoid defaulting on the debt — something that is expected to happen in early summer unless Congress raises the limit. The impacts of a default would send shockwaves through the economy.
Zients said Republicans were being irresponsible by “tying two things together that should never be tied together” — the debt limit and budget discussions.
“I think the off-ramp is very clear. It’s the same off-ramp that was taken with no drama three times in the previous administration when President Trump was in the White House,” Zients said.
“Take default off the table like we have every time. Don’t play games with the full faith and credit of the United States. It’s unacceptable. It’s not up for negotiation,” he said.
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The White House is drawing from the 2011 experience
McCarthy and Biden met on Feb. 1 to talk about the debt ceiling, but haven’t had formal talks since then. Biden unveiled his budget proposal on March 9. Afterward, he said he wanted to see the House budget before resuming talks.
“I’m ready to meet with the speaker anytime — tomorrow, if he has his budget,” Biden said at the time. “Lay it down. Tell me what you want to do. I’ll show you what I want to do. See what we can agree on.”
It’s unclear whether McCarthy can pass his budget framework in the House, where fractious Republicans have a slim majority. If he does, that could put pressure on the Democratic-controlled Senate — and the Biden White House — to come to the negotiating table.
During the debt limit debate in 2011, the Obama White House negotiated with congressional Republicans, and spending limits were very much part of the…
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