Democrats may have to come to the table prepared to negotiate with Republicans over the debt ceiling that could put the U.S. economy down a hole.
However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and President Joe Biden have so far refused to settle with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) on raising the debt ceiling.
Last week, McCarthy called on Democrats to discuss plans to increase the federal debt limit despite Biden and Schumer standing their ground, avoiding all talks.
“What I would like to do is I would like to sit down with all the leaders and especially the president and start having discussions," McCarthy said, adding “if you had a child and you gave them a credit card and they hit the limit and you raised it again, clean increase and again and again, would you keep doing that or would you change the behavior?”
However, Schumer criticized McCarthy’s demand for spending cuts, warning him that it is a “reckless” action.
“America pays its debts. Period. There should be no political brinkmanship with the debt limit," Schumer said in a statement, adding “It's reckless for Speaker McCarthy and MAGA Republicans to try and use the full faith and credit of the United States as a political bargaining chip.”
Policy experts across the nation are weighing in on the issue, suggesting that Democrats will be forced to sit down and negotiate with the GOP.
“A failure to deal with the debt limit would be catastrophic for the economy. Any serious person who has studied this knows the economic consequences would be deep, long-lasting, and disastrous,” former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad said.
Conrad believes that Medicare and Social Security are heading towards insolvency, which former President Trump is warning Republicans not to cut, “under no circumstances.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) is pressuring Biden to enter negotiations with the GOP, saying that the two parties need to work together.
"It’s bipartisan, it’s always been bipartisan as far as the debt ceiling,” Manchin said. “I think what we have to do is realize that we have a problem. We have a debt problem.”
This is not the first time a situation like this has emerged.
In 2011, former President Barack Obama negotiated with the House Republican majority to extend the debt ceiling, while also agreeing to settle on spending cuts with the GOP just before the 2012 presidential election.
Additionally, Trump negotiated 2019 a $320 billion increase in domestic and military spending as part of a two-year budget deal.
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