Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries Look to Project Unity Ahead of Spending Fights

Some House Republicans have backed a bill that would eliminate federal income taxes and impose a 30% national sales tax, though other members of the GOP conference have attacked the idea as one that would hurt working-class Americans.

Republican leaders also have committed to tie spending cuts to any increase in the debt ceiling. The party has yet to coalesce around what cuts to seek, and there is disagreement about whether to target Social Security, Medicare and other popular federal benefit programs. An internal fight also is simmering among Republicans about whether military cuts should be on the table. 

Though the president didn’t mention the debt ceiling in his brief remarks, the issue was expected to come up at the meeting.

Mr. Biden and top party officials in Congress are opposed to negotiating with Republicans on the issue, arguing that lawmakers of both parties should agree to lift the debt ceiling without preconditions. The meeting included House Minority Leader

Hakeem Jeffries

and Senate Majority Leader

Chuck Schumer,

both Democrats of New York, as well as other top Democratic lawmakers.

“What’s your plan?” Mr. Schumer asked Republicans following the meeting with the president, referring to their plan to cut spending in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling. “We don’t even know if they can put one together.”

“We have a responsibility to pay the debts that the Congress has already incurred,” Mr. Jeffries said.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has said he hopes to negotiate with Mr. Biden. Messrs. Biden and McCarthy are planning to meet as soon as next week for a wide-ranging meeting that is expected to include discussion of the debt ceiling.

Mr. McCarthy reiterated Tuesday evening that he wants to eliminate waste in government through spending cuts and maintained his position that Republicans will only agree to raise the debt ceiling if Mr. Biden agrees to cuts. He didn’t go into details. 

“What I have asked for is to sit down, let’s find common ground, and let’s eliminate the wasteful spending to protect the hardworking taxpayers, to protect the future of America,” Mr. McCarthy said.

Mr. McCarthy also said he doesn’t support the national sales tax bill that Mr. Biden criticized.

Mr. Schumer said the lawmakers didn’t discuss with the president the recent revelations that classified documents had been discovered in Mr. Biden’s private home and former office. The White House’s handling of that issue has drawn criticism from Republicans and some Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader

Mitch McConnell

(R., Ky.) said on Tuesday that he plans to stay out of any negotiations over the debt limit. He said a fix—if there is one—must originate in the Republican-controlled House, not the Democratic-led Senate. 

“I can’t imagine any debt-ceiling provision that passed out of the Senate with 60 votes could actually pass this particular House,” Mr. McConnell said. “So I think the final solution with this particular episode lies with Speaker McCarthy and the president.”

Mr. Schumer said he and Mr. McConnell were in agreement that the onus is on the House to act. “McConnell made the argument for us. He says the House has to go first,” he said.

Last week, the Treasury Department began taking so-called extraordinary measures to keep paying the government’s bills as the U.S. bumped up against its borrowing limit. The measures will allow the Treasury to keep paying obligations to bondholders, Social Security recipients and others until at least early June, giving Mr. Biden and Congress less than five months to reach an agreement to raise the debt limit or risk a default. 

“If we don’t meet our national debt and renege for the first time, we have a calamity that exceeds anything that’s ever happened financially in the United States,” Mr. Biden said last week.

White House officials said Mr. Biden is expected to regularly mention the debt ceiling, as well as other GOP proposals such as the national sales tax, in public remarks in the coming months to draw a contrast between Democrats and Republicans. The economy is expected to be a focus of a speech Mr. Biden is set to deliver Thursday in Virginia, as well as his State of the Union address next month. 

White House press secretary

Karine Jean-Pierre

said Tuesday that Mr. Biden wants to work in a bipartisan way to lower the federal debt, but she said the debt ceiling should be raised without conditions. She said of Congress: “This is their duty. This is their duty to do this in a bipartisan way.”

Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) has said that refusing to negotiate on spending cuts is a mistake, but he also warned against brinkmanship over the debt ceiling. “I think we all know you have to talk about these things…The bottom line is can we find a pathway forward before all the theatrics start?”

Write to Andrew Restuccia at [email protected] and Lindsay Wise at [email protected]

Some House Republicans have backed a bill that would eliminate federal income taxes and impose a 30% national sales tax, though other members of the GOP conference have attacked the idea as one that would hurt working-class Americans.

Republican leaders also have committed to tie spending cuts to any increase in the debt ceiling. The party has yet to coalesce around what cuts to seek, and there is disagreement about whether to target Social Security, Medicare and other popular federal benefit programs. An internal fight also is simmering among Republicans about whether military cuts should be on the table. 

Though the president didn’t mention the debt ceiling in his brief remarks, the issue was expected to come up at the meeting.

Mr. Biden and top party officials in Congress are opposed to negotiating with Republicans on the issue, arguing that lawmakers of both parties should agree to lift the debt ceiling without preconditions. The meeting included House Minority Leader

Hakeem Jeffries

and Senate Majority Leader

Chuck Schumer,

both Democrats of New York, as well as other top Democratic lawmakers.

“What’s your plan?” Mr. Schumer asked Republicans following the meeting with the president, referring to their plan to cut spending in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling. “We don’t even know if they can put one together.”

“We have a responsibility to pay the debts that the Congress has already incurred,” Mr. Jeffries said.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has said he hopes to negotiate with Mr. Biden. Messrs. Biden and McCarthy are planning to meet as soon as next week for a wide-ranging meeting that is expected to include discussion of the debt ceiling.

Mr. McCarthy reiterated Tuesday evening that he wants to eliminate waste in government through spending cuts and maintained his position that Republicans will only agree to raise the debt ceiling if Mr. Biden agrees to cuts. He didn’t go into details. 

“What I have asked for is to sit down, let’s find common ground, and let’s eliminate the wasteful spending to protect the hardworking taxpayers, to protect the future of America,” Mr. McCarthy said.

Mr. McCarthy also said he doesn’t support the national sales tax bill that Mr. Biden criticized.

Mr. Schumer said the lawmakers didn’t discuss with the president the recent revelations that classified documents had been discovered in Mr. Biden’s private home and former office. The White House’s handling of that issue has drawn criticism from Republicans and some Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader

Mitch McConnell

(R., Ky.) said on Tuesday that he plans to stay out of any negotiations over the debt limit. He said a fix—if there is one—must originate in the Republican-controlled House, not the Democratic-led Senate. 

“I can’t imagine any debt-ceiling provision that passed out of the Senate with 60 votes could actually pass this particular House,” Mr. McConnell said. “So I think the final solution with this particular episode lies with Speaker McCarthy and the president.”

Mr. Schumer said he and Mr. McConnell were in agreement that the onus is on the House to act. “McConnell made the argument for us. He says the House has to go first,” he said.

Last week, the Treasury Department began taking so-called extraordinary measures to keep paying the government’s bills as the U.S. bumped up against its borrowing limit. The measures will allow the Treasury to keep paying obligations to bondholders, Social Security recipients and others until at least early June, giving Mr. Biden and Congress less than five months to reach an agreement to raise the debt limit or risk a default. 

“If we don’t meet our national debt and renege for the first time, we have a calamity that exceeds anything that’s ever happened financially in the United States,” Mr. Biden said last week.

White House officials said Mr. Biden is expected to regularly mention the debt ceiling, as well as other GOP proposals such as the national sales tax, in public remarks in the coming months to draw a contrast between Democrats and Republicans. The economy is expected to be a focus of a speech Mr. Biden is set to deliver Thursday in Virginia, as well as his State of the Union address next month. 

White House press secretary

Karine Jean-Pierre

said Tuesday that Mr. Biden wants to work in a bipartisan way to lower the federal debt, but she said the debt ceiling should be raised without conditions. She said of Congress: “This is their duty. This is their duty to do this in a bipartisan way.”

Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) has said that refusing to negotiate on spending cuts is a mistake, but he also warned against brinkmanship over the debt ceiling. “I think we all know you have to talk about these things…The bottom line is can we find a pathway forward before all the theatrics start?”

Write to Andrew Restuccia at [email protected] and Lindsay Wise at [email protected]