Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans pulled out of debt limit talks because they claim the conversations aren’t productive.
“We’ve decided to press pause, because it’s just not productive,” Graves told reporters in the Capitol as he left a meeting that had begun around 10 a.m. on Friday. He was joined by House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R.N.C.).
A White House official acknowledged that a snag had occurred without indicating that either side had walked away from the table: “There are real differences between the parties on budget issues and talks will be difficult. The President’s team is working hard towards a reasonable bipartisan solution that can pass the House and the Senate.”
It is not productive is code for Democrats and the White House are refusing to agree to the sort of cuts that House Republicans are demanding.
The script has flipped. Biden and the Democrats are at the negotiating table, while Republicans are imperiling the United States economy by walking away.
House Republicans were delusional if they really believed that Democrats would agree to the cuts that they were demanding. It was never going to happen.
House Republicans could end this crisis tomorrow by passing a clean debt limit increase. The blame Biden and the Democrats game has backfired.