Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., criticized President Joe Biden on Monday for not engaging on the upcoming debt ceiling raise.
"President Biden and his administration are literally 'on the clock' to negotiate a debt ceiling solution with Speaker McCarthy and the Republican majority over in the House," McConnell said during his first day back on the Senate floor after recovering from a fall at a Washington, D.C., dinner March 8. "The president's economic advisers say the deadline for a solution is not far off."
McConnell said that the apparent position from the administration, however, seems to be "no talks, no reforms."
"This extreme position is not even holding up in their own party," he said. "Even Washington Democrats are breaking ranks on the administration's position."
Visiting the New York Stock Exchange earlier in the day, McCarthy called out Biden for "ignoring" the issue.
"For 75 days, the president has ignored the debt ceiling," McCarthy said. "As Speaker of the House, I have a responsibility to tell the nation that this has got to stop. This isn't something to be played with, this isn't something to play a political game with. I want a responsible and honest debt ceiling."
The New York Times reported Monday that the current debt ceiling could be breached as early as July if Congress raises it.
While Biden called a media lid at 9:03 a.m. Monday morning after returning from a trip to Ireland, the White House shot back at the Republican leadership.
"As President Biden continues to fight against inflation, MAGA Republicans in Congress are trying to take our economy hostage unless we gut programs that lower costs for hard-working Americans," the White House said in a post on Twitter on Monday.
The administration is pushing for raising the ceiling "without conditions," but is also open to separate budget discussions, the Times reported.
Republicans want to see a freeze on spending to 2022 levels and rescinding unspent billions of pandemic aid amid other concessions to pass the legislation, according to the Times.
"A speech isn't a plan, but it's clear that extreme MAGA Republicans' wish lists will impose devastating cuts on hardworking families, send manufacturing overseas, take health care and food assistance away from millions of people, and increase energy costs — all while adding trillions to the debt with tax cuts skewed to the super wealthy and corporations," Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, told the Times on Monday.
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