With a debt ceiling deadline looming, President Joe Biden hosted an Oval Office meeting last week with Congress’ bipartisan leadership. Participants didn’t agree on much, but there was common ground on one key point: The discussion didn’t go well.
Almost immediately after the meeting wrapped up, the conversation was described as “contentious” and “tense.” Biden lamented the fact that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, in particular, was “occasionally … a little over the top.”
In contrast, the follow-up discussion yesterday appears to have been at least marginally more constructive: The House Republican leader told reporters after the meeting that the parties remain “far apart” but that “it is possible to get a deal by the end of the week.”
To that end, we’ve apparently reached the stage at which the major players have appointed proxies to start tackling specific details. As NBC News reported, the president has tapped Budget Director Shalanda Young and White House adviser Steve Ricchetti to take the lead on Democrats’ behalf, while Republican Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana and members of McCarthy’s staff will represent the GOP.
I won’t pretend to know what’s likely to happen next, but the House speaker took a new and provocative step yesterday, identifying what he considers to be a “red line” on which he will not budge. McCarthy no doubt realizes that Democrats will never simply accept the entirety of the ransom note recently approved by House Republicans, but he appears to be prioritizing one far-right goal above all others: work requirements for federal aid. NBC News reported:
The debt ceiling bill House Republicans passed last month, which was negotiated between GOP members and approved along party lines, would expand work requirements for some federal aid programs, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, a program that provides grocery aid.
Defending his “red line” on work…
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