According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, if the debt ceiling isn’t lifted soon, the government could default on its obligations “potentially as early as June 1.” President Joe Biden has made it clear he’ll veto any Republican proposals that would lift the debt ceiling by making drastic cuts in federal spending — which is exactly what a new House bill proposes.
Given the gridlock, President Biden has summoned the four top congressional leaders to the White House to discuss a possible solution before the government runs short of cash. In the meantime, House Democrats have a secret plan to try and force a debt ceiling increase. Straight Arrow News contributor Newt Gingrich thinks the Democrats are going to be left holding the bag if they don’t agree to spending cuts.
Now, the question is what does President Biden do? Their first reaction was to say we’re not going to negotiate. Well, they have a problem. Among the American people, according to Scott Rasmussen, only 24% — one out of every four — want to have a debt ceiling increase, with no changes. About 46% of American people are willing to have a debt ceiling increase if there are cuts in spending. But an additional 16% don’t want a debt ceiling increase at all, period, under any circumstance.
So in fact, by almost three to one, the American people are opposed to President Biden’s position that the only thing he’ll do is sign a debt ceiling that has no changes. It’s going to sink in over the next 30 to 60 days. It’ll get to be a crisis. The business community will go nuts, the news media will go crazy. President Biden will use really harsh, really strong language. But in the end, the objective fact that was created is that Speaker McCarthy and the House Republicans have the only game in town.
The only currently legislated alternative to the U.S. government defaulting on its debt is, in fact, the McCarthy bill. And I think that’s going to be the beginning of the negotiation, not the Biden position. So what you’re watching is history in the making. It could be the first real turnaround step towards getting back to the balanced budget and back to a system where we limit inflation, we limit taxes, we limit deficits, and have a much healthier economy. But this was a very big week.
