Karine Jean-Pierre ENCORE defends Biden from leaving DC for Memorial Day with just seven days left to default: Press secretary insists he can work ‘anywhere’ as White House and Republicans scramble to make a deal
- Biden plans to leave town without a deal in hand
- Treasury estimates US could default on June 1 without raising debt ceiling
- House members are also heading home for a long weekend
The White House on Thursday pressed House Republicans to reach a ‘reasonable deal’ on the budget – and defended President Joe Biden’s expected pending travel plans, even with a potential US default. in a few days.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the plans of Biden and his congressional counterparts, with more talk about “progress,” but there is still no indication that there is an ongoing deal that could avoid a default as early as June 1.
“What I can say is that the president can fix this wherever it is,” she said.
It’s an argument the White House has made in the past, since the president travels with a slew of communication aids and equipment. But Biden chose to cut short his planned trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea last week amid the need to negotiate the standoff.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been pressed for the second day in a row over President Joe Biden’s weekend travel plans, with no deal in the works to avoid a potential government default, with the “X” delay at only seven days
Biden has met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy only once this week, late Monday afternoon after returning from Japan.
House Republican leaders announced Thursday they were sending members home for Memorial Day — but asked them to prepare in DC with 24 hours’ notice in the event of a breakthrough.
Jean-Pierre’s comment came a day after she asked a similar question on Wednesday.
“On the debt ceiling, you used words like catastrophic and devastating today, but the president is going to Camp David again this weekend, then to Delaware,” a reporter asked him then. “If the situation is so serious, then why is the president…” asked the journalist before Jean-Pierre interrupted him.
“I just answered that question,” she said. ‘Do you have another one? I literally just answered that question,” she said.
Although Biden and McCarthy have only met once this week, the daily talks have been led by two senior members of his team and two Republican House lawmakers. McCarthy also revealed that he spoke to former President Donald Trump about the budget in comments he described as curt. Trump was in town Thursday to host the Saudi-backed LIV golf tournament at his Virginia property.
President Joe Biden has insisted that the talks with Republicans are about “the outline of what the budget will look like – not default.” He spoke in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, May 25, 2023, about his intention to appoint U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., right , to serve as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Vice President Kamala Harris listen.
“The American people should know that we are not taking any hostages here. Defaulting is not an option,’ Jean-Pierre, in one of his jabs at Republicans, amid calls from some progressive Democrats for Biden to up his communication game.
His comment came a day after he called Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for telling Semafor that his colleagues agreed and, “They don’t think we should negotiate with our hostage.”
The line seemed to suggest that Gaetz might admit to the hostage-taking — using the threat as leverage — that the White House has accused them of in the past.
Biden himself addressed the status of the talks at the start of an event officially announcing his nomination of CQ Brown, Jr. to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He said the talks were “about the outline of what the budget will look like – not about defaulting on it.”
Then he said that he and “President McCarthy and I have a very different view of who should bear the burden of the extra effort to get our finances in order.” ‘
He said the GOP proposals would lead to “massive cuts” to teachers, police and border patrol.
“I don’t think the whole burden should be on middle class and working class America,” he said.
He cited his own proposal to cut spending by $1 trillion and have the wealthy “start paying their fair share” – although McCarthy says his revenue proposals are not on the table.
“I have made it clear time and time again that defaulting on our national debt is not an option,” Biden said.
Conservatives and progressives in the House have begun to complain about the kind of deal that could emerge, with the White House saying it must be passed on a bipartisan basis.
