President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy so far have no plans to meet again to hold budget negotiations before a June deadline that could trigger a debt default, the California Republican told reporters.
Biden is expected to announce his budget Thursday — and the GOP’s budget is expected to be released sometime in April.
McCarthy has slapped Biden for missing a February deadline to unveil the budget, while Biden has urged the speaker to release his own spending plans.
“One of the biggest challenges we have is the disappointment that the president is so delayed in setting up his budget,” McCarthy said, asking when Republicans would explain their own plans.
“One of the biggest challenges we have is the disappointment that the president is so delayed in setting up his budget,” McCarthy said, asking when Republicans would explain their own plans
McCarthy claimed Republicans could not work on their own budget until they saw the Democrats’ framework. “We will analyze this budget and then work on our budget.”
McCarthy said he believed there could be “commonalities” but “there won’t be any new taxes”. Biden’s provisions to reduce the deficit are expected to depend heavily on new taxes on the wealthy.
The rep declined to give further details on what will be included in the GOP budget or when exactly it will be released.
Biden’s White House has attacked Republicans for aligning themselves with former Trump budget official Russell Vought, and Vought confirmed to the New York Times that he advises them on cuts to an “awakened and armed government.”
Vought has reportedly proposed a 45% cut in foreign aid, work requirements for Americans on food stamps or Medicaid, and a 43% cut in housing programs and a 29% cut in the Department of Health and Human Services.
McCarthy also said Biden did not call him to set up a second meeting to discuss the budget – and urged him to do so soon.
‘He hasn’t called back. He once told me he would do it,” the rep told reporters.
“I think he will eventually, but it’s a wasted month. This is a month that brings more financial doubts, this is a month that hurts Americans. The sooner we get together, the more excited all of America will be for him to be ready to sit down and be able to move this forward.’
Meanwhile, Phil Swagel, director of the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), gave a briefing before the full House of Representatives on Wednesday to discuss the fiscal outlook and the impact of the federal debt.
MP Greg Murphy, RN.C., told DailyMail.com it was a “good bipartisan meeting” at which the CBO director “had a strong belief that debt is a real problem”.
The nation hit its $31.4 trillion borrowing limit in January, prompting the Treasury Department to take “extraordinary measures” to extend the June deadline for the government to run out of money. Congress must act now to raise the debt ceiling.
Congressional Budget Office forecasts
CBO projects the US will pay $10 trillion in interest on federal debt over the next 10 years
CBO projects that annual budget deficits will hit $2 trillion between 2024 and 2033, approaching pandemic-era records within the decade
CBO said Congress could “almost stabilize” government debt growth by reducing deficits by $500 billion a year, the equivalent of decades of $5 trillion in savings
Biden said his budget will reduce the deficit by $2 trillion over the next decade, mostly through tax hikes on the wealthy
The Republican budget is expected to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion over the decade
Speaker Kevin McCarthy has insisted the GOP-led House will not agree to a debt limit increase unless the fiscal 2024 budget is cut. President Biden has taken a firm stance against debt ceiling negotiations.
In its annual budget outlook last month, CBO forecast that interest payments on the national debt would reach $10 trillion over the next 10 years. It found that combined spending on Social Security and Medicare would nearly double by 2033 — to $4 trillion and 10 percent of economic output.
President Biden is expected to release his budget Thursday — and he says it will include $3 trillion in deficit cuts funded mostly by tax hikes on the wealthy. House Republicans will release their own budget in mid-April. They are targeting $150 billion in discretionary non-defense spending cuts to save $1.5 trillion over a decade and keep annual spending increases at 1%.
In a post on the CBO website this week, Swagel said Congress could “almost stabilize” debt growth by cutting deficits by an average of $500 billion a year for savings of $5 trillion over the next decade — far steeper cuts than any party in view.
Meanwhile, House Ways and Means Republicans are drafting a plan B in the event McCarthy and Biden maintain their debt ceiling standoff and bring the nation closer to a default.
The committee announced on Thursday it would take a measure that would allow the Treasury Department to continue borrowing money to pay interest on the national debt if both parties cannot reach an agreement on the budget before the funds are exhausted – a Signs that this is not quite the case is confident that both sides will find an agreement.
