President Joe Biden is acting in a way that is "wildly irresponsible" when it comes to the national debt, including with his refusal to negotiate on the debt bill passed by House Republicans, Sen. Ted Cruz said Sunday.
"Joe Biden is gambling," the Texas Republican said in an interview with Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures." "Joe Biden needs to stop playing roulette with the American economy and with the American credit limit."
Cruz said he doesn't know if Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will bring the House bill up for a vote, even when House Republicans "demonstrated bold leadership" by passing the legislation.
"They brought the conference together," said Cruz, commending the House Republicans. "It wasn't easy. There are lots of factions. They have a very narrow majority in the House, yet House conservatives played an active role in drafting this bill…this bill is an exercise in being responsible."
But Biden is saying he won't talk or negotiate in any way, said Cruz.
"There is one person on planet Earth that could ensure we will never, ever, ever have a default," he added. "That person's name is Joseph Biden. Every month the federal government takes in more in tax revenue than we have in expenditures, which means we can always service our debt."
If Biden were acting as a "responsible president," Cruz said, he would "look at the TV camera and say that 'America will never default on our debt. We will always pay the interest on the debt, you can count on that.'"
But he won't say that, said Cruz, "because he wants to fearmonger. He wants to scare the equity markets and the bond markets, and what he is doing right now is wildly irresponsible."
Cruz also commented on Biden's 2024 reelection announcement, coming the day after White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice stepped down, and said the timing shows that the "rats are fleeing the ship."
As for Biden, his three-minute video "had to be from a teleprompter because they couldn't trust him to actually stand in front of a crowd and speak," said Cruz. " He couldn't talk about any policy because the policy has been a mess. He couldn't talk about inflation. He couldn't talk about crime or immigration. He certainly couldn't talk about foreign policy. Instead, his message was 'finish the job.' This job has been disastrous. Everything Biden has touched has gotten worse."
Biden should also listen to his past self when it comes to the debt ceiling legislation, because back in 2011, when he was vice president, he negotiated the Budget Control Act, said Cruz.
"You know who didn't engage in this kind of irresponsible fear-mongering? Barack Obama, the president," said Cruz. "He sent Joe in and said let's reach a deal. That Joe Biden from 2011 needs to come back, not the guy they got right now locked in the basement and a White House that's being run by 25-year-old radicals…we need to bring back the Joe Biden who's done this before, not the one who is behaving like a terrorist, which is what Biden is doing right now."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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