Debt ceiling talks are not going well

Biden-Chamberly Updates: The Status of the White House Debt Convergence and the CPV Dilemma

The republicans are frustrated at the state of the 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. We’re going to have a significant gap unless and until the White House understands that this is a spending problem.

Graves, who is a top proxy for Speaker McCarthy in talks, said no additional meetings with the White House negotiators had been scheduled as of Tuesday evening. Graves said that he and Patrick McHenry are willing to meet again as long as it’s not a reconfiguration 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 said that the talks have been productive despite the difficult nature.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1177810037/debt-ceiling-negotiations-biden-mccarthy-updates

Reply to McCarthy’s “Debt Ceiling Negotiations” — “The Case for a Dangerous Default”

One area of stalemate between the camps is spending caps. Republicans want to cut fiscal 2024 spending to the 2022 level, or at least below spending of the current year, as well as cap annual growth. They say a proposed freeze of spending at the 2023 level is not sufficient.

McCarthy is not interested in lifting the debt limit for a short while without any preconditions, as he wants negotiators to work out a long-term solution to avoid a default.

“That is not a road to a bipartisan resolution,” he told reporters. “That is an effort to take this country on a reckless legislative joyride to a dangerous default, and that is why America is in this situation right now.”

I was following her services in government. She has the most varied economic experience of any living American in the most important economic positions in our government,” he told reporters. “I don’t think there’s any wiggle room for us.”

The text of the bill is expected to take 24-48 hours to be written, and that the House has a rule that allows at least 72 hours for members to review the bill before voting. McCarthy has said that House members will return to D.C. if there is a bill.

Both Graves and McHenry have been effusive in their praise of the White House negotiating team, Steve Ricchetti and Capitol Hill veteran Shalanda Young.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1177810037/debt-ceiling-negotiations-biden-mccarthy-updates

The Frustrated Negotiating Game: A Balanced Act for the Biden-McCartan White House and the House Freedom Caucus

“These negotiations have 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, sorry. The manager won’t drop the price, but he’ll throw in car mats’ — like, that doesn’t do it.”

The White House has put constraints on talented people who are in the room, and that’s not good for the deal.

“There are moments where things get rough and there’s other times where they’re not, but there’s been a general sense of comity in the room — and, since Graves is in the room, a little bit of comedy,” McHenry added, nodding to Graves’ reputation as a bit of a practical joker.

Both House progressives and the House Freedom caucus probably won’t be satisfied with any compromises that are made between the White House and Speaker McCarthy.

House progressives already expressed concern when Biden suggested he might be willing to entertain possible work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents who are enrolled in federal safety net programs like food stamps — a central GOP demand.

“I do not believe that the president would call on the progressive caucus of all the caucuses in the Democratic Party to support legislation that he knows is contrary to progressive values,” she said. We have not heard of the White House asking us to do that. The Democratic Party has caucuses. If Kevin McCarthy needs five votes, he can get them from somewhere, but he’s not going to get it from me.”

Biden and all four top congressional leaders have previously agreed that any deal will need to have bipartisan support to pass both chambers of Congress.

This creates a bit of a balancing act for McCarthy, who has a narrow majority in the House and must craft a deal that satisfies the demands of the majority of his conference and not alienate the Democrats he’ll need to have on board in order for the deal to pass.

He cannot go too far in angering the more conservative flank of his party. In his protracted fight for the speaker’s gavel, McCarthy agreed to a provision that would allow any single lawmaker to bring up a snap vote to potentially oust him.

Negotiating with her old boss about the veering off the debt ceiling: Selling it to your own people, not to the other side

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.

Biden told McCarthy that they had to be in a position where they could sell it to their own people. “We’re pretty well divided in the House, almost down the middle, and it’s not any different in the Senate. So, we got to get something that we can sell to both sides.”

As the staff director, she was crafting proposals and trying to broker a deal to end the longest government shutdown in US history.

It was a challenging moment, costing the US economy billions of dollars. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were forced to work without pay as a result of some delayed government spending.

Her old boss, former Rep. Nita Lowey, who was then chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said Young was critical to helping her reach a deal that Republicans could swallow in order to reopen the government.

Armed with facts, Young would catch subtle moments during talks. She used a secret hand signal to let her boss know when things were moving in the correct direction.

“I can remember at one point in a negotiation, she was in back of me, giving me advice,” Lowey said, chuckling. “Pointing one finger at my back. I’d grab the two 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

SchaLanda is an amazing woman: a true hero of the Senate and the bureaucracy of the treasury

It was that kind of experience — finding compromise even in the most toxic of environments — that’s earned Young the trust of both Republicans and Democrats.

“Shalanda is unflappable, strategic and steady,” said acting secretary of the treasury Jeff Zients. She knows the ins and outs of the federal budget better than anyone on the planet, and she fights like hell to defend and advance the president’s priorities.

“Highly respect them, their knowledge,” McCarthy said. “Shalanda has worked on [appropriations] … Everybody in this place knows her, respects her greatly.”

She told reporters during a briefing that the debt ceiling situation needs to be solved by a bipartisan process. That’s the only thing that will make it to the president’s desk.