As Sarah and Spencer covered over the weekend, we have a tentative deal on the debt ceiling. It’s not perfect. Disappointment is something that both camps should expect from their respective voter bases. But it does avoid a default in theory, a scenario that both Democrats and Republicans agreed couldn’t be tolerated. For weeks, there was a dearth of press conferences from Joe Biden about the ongoing negotiations.
White House Press Secretary Karine Grey Poupon isn’t a qualified substitute to give updates either. He’s senile, and she’s a mess. That is not exactly the face you want regarding ameliorating this fiasco. The pervasive line about the debt ceiling talks from the White House was that progress was being made, along with Biden meeting with congressional leadership to discuss when they would hold the real meetings. Most would need Pepto-Bismol to handle the whiplash.
And before the deal was announced, you’d think Biden would want to deliver some news at a press conference, preferably that we had a deal in principle. Nope. He went on vacation for the weekend, which led to the White House Correspondents' Association, a friendly ally to the president, to rip him for failing to inform the press and the public on what was going on for the past three or so weeks:
🚨 NEW: The left-leaning White House Correspondents’ Association has condemned Biden for REFUSING to hold a news conference amid the looming debt ceiling crisis.
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 26, 2023
“The White House was not persuaded by our argument that the public deserves to see them answer questions,” said WHCA
Full statement from White House Correspondents’ Assoc. President Tamara Keith (who’s also with NPR):
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 26, 2023
“The WHCA board pushed hard for the White House to hold a briefing on Friday or potentially over the weekend given intense interest in the high stakes debt ceiling negotiations…
The WHCA board pushed hard for the White House to hold a briefing on Friday or potentially over the weekend given intense interest in the high stakes debt ceiling negotiations and the risk that the US economy could go over a cliff.
The White House was not persuaded by our argument that the public deserves to see them answer questions. Monday is a federal holiday, which means there could be four days in the midst of a political crisis, without a briefing
So, we have a muted hooray for getting a deal that prevents financial Armageddon. And Joe’s prevarication regarding pressers is starting to wear out the patience of his most trusted allies: the press corps.
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UPDATE: Tim Graham of Newbusters adds what's odd about this WHCA statement is that it's not even on their website or the Twitter account of Ms. Keith