As President Joe Biden prepares to leave town over the long Memorial Day weekend for a planned respite from Washington, it's reasonable to question how committed the president actually is to the debt limit talks that have — so far — proved fruitless.
Well, one reporter at the White House asked Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre how Biden can claim to be super-focused on finding a deal with congressional Republicans to avoid a default while also leaving the White House without an agreed-upon plan with just seven days before June 1, the earliest predicted "x-date" on which the U.S. will default on its debt.
Jean-Pierre's answer on behalf of President Biden: "There's always been urgency."
To back up her claims of "urgency," Jean-Pierre explained that the White House has "called this out over and over again how urgent it is to get this done." That is, if the White House says so, then it is. Or something. But Jean-Pierre's presentation of "facts" isn't based in reality and requires listeners to suspend disbelief.
Continuing, Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration has "been laying out, again, for months and months, how catastrophic this could be if Congress didn't do its job and deal with the debt limit as its constitutional for them to be doing."
REPORTER: "The president's going to Camp David this weekend, going to Delaware. Can you describe the sense of urgency that the president feels to get a deal done?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 25, 2023
KJP: "There's always been urgency!" pic.twitter.com/DMGLl8lwRV
Trying to explain Biden's role in the debt talks, Jean-Pierre cobbled together a claim that "we are fighting to make sure that we protect American families, we are fighting to make sure- uh, that- uh, that- uh, you know, we're continuing to build uh, a economy from the bottom up, middle out." Jean-Pierre also didn't have a specific role Biden has played to enumerate in trying to avert a default as talks drag out without a resolution. That, in fact, may be by design because of Biden's apparently sabotaging impact on the negotiations:
Biden’s laying low is by design, per White House officials. (Not that that would mollify frustrated House Dems)
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) May 25, 2023
After he met w McCarthy on Monday, Biden chose not to address the public, believing that staying quiet would be more productive for the talks https://t.co/ZeGqwugxem https://t.co/7HTdA3xqiF
Back at the White House on Thursday, Jean-Pierre concluded her rant about how much "urgency" the president is showing about the debt limit by declaring "Congress needs to get this done."
REPORTER: "So if there is not a deal, there is no plan B?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 25, 2023
KJP: "The only option right now, is for Congress to do their jobs without conditions..." pic.twitter.com/GF4X5Q18J8
Well, if Jean-Pierre is going to continue spinning false choices and attempting to rewrite recent history, Townhall is going to keep pointing out the obvious holes in her narrative. First, Biden has not treated the debt situation with any urgency. Whether it was because the White House honestly didn't believe House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) would be able to draft and pass a plan to raise the debt limit and avert default or for some other reason, Biden showed a grand total of exactly zero urgency for more than two months when he refused to negotiate or talk with McCarthy about a bill the House would pass to avert default that Biden would sign.
By that same fact, Congress has in fact done its job, before Biden ever began doing his job in the debt limit matter, and while Democrats in the Senate also refused to do their jobs. House Republicans remain the only group in Washington that has actually taken action to avert a default on country's debt, but Jean-Pierre and the White House don't want you to know that.
Despite her attempts to change the narrative with partisan spin, the mainstream media aren't taking the bait — much to the White House's chagrin — nor are the American people. A new Fox News Poll showed that more American would blame President Biden than congressional Republicans if a default happens.