On Monday, a brief glimmer of hope emerged that Joe Biden might set his arrogance and senility aside to do what’s right for the nation. As RedState reported, the president invited House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to the White House in a move that seemed like a path back toward sanity.
Unfortunately, that hope has been dashed. Biden is apparently planning to tell McCarthy what he’s already told him. Namely, that he won’t negotiate any deal to raise the debt ceiling (Yahoo News).
President Joe Biden will not negotiate over the debt ceiling during his meeting with four top congressional leaders on May 9, but he will discuss starting “a separate budget process” to talk about spending priorities, the White House said on Tuesday.
Biden on Monday summoned the four Senate and House of Representatives leaders — two fellow Democrats and two Republicans — to the White House next week, after the U.S. Treasury warned the government could run short of cash to pay its bills as soon as June 1.
“He is not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. But the president “is willing to have a separate conversation about their spending, what they want to do with the budget.”
What an absolute cluster this has turned into. Why did Biden call a meeting if he plans to just reiterate his stubborn, economically suicidal position? And to be clear, that’s what this is. House Republicans have already passed a debt ceiling increase that includes a one percent spending increase on top of 2022 (i.e. already sky-high) spending levels. It also requires the government to take back unspent COVID-19 aid money, which seems like common sense three years on, and it cancels Biden’s student loan ploy, which has already been halted by the courts anyway.
In other words, Biden could offer a few concessions to McCarthy, solidify a bi-partisan deal, and basically lose nothing as far as his agenda goes. There is no risk here for the White House. Yet, the president refuses to even negotiate while the financial futures of millions of Americans hang in the balance. It’s an inexplicable decision given the tenuous nature of the economy, which has seen growth slow to a trickle as interest rates have risen.
On second thought, I take that back. It’s not actually inexplicable because I think the explanation is pretty simple when you think about it. Biden knows he’s already run the economy off a cliff. It’s just a matter of time before the remains slam into the ground and burst into flames. With that in mind, what better way to obfuscate from the damage he’s done than to force a debt default? Then he can blame the massive economic downturn that was going to happen anyway on Republicans.
That makes a heck of a lot more sense, doesn’t it?