#shorts On 4/24/2023, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “sit down with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy now that he has released his — the outlines of his plan on the debt limit. Why is — is now the time for the President to actually speak to the Speaker and begin substantive negotiations?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So here’s the thing, Zeke — (laughs) — I tried to — Look, we’ve been very clear. We’re not going to negotiate over — over avoiding default. We’ve been very clear about that.
… But what they have done is they have put those two things together — the de- — the debt ceiling and spending cuts. And we have always been very clear, Zeke — we have been very, very clear — we are not going to negotiate when it comes to the full faith and credit of this nation. And they are holding that hostage currently. They’re holding the economy hostage.
And so, look, they have to — they have to — we’re not negotiating over — over that. And they have to avoid default.
Reporter: So what do they need to do — what does the Speaker need to do?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: It’s very clear. They — it’s very clear. They need to — they need to make sure that we’re not …
On 4/24/2023, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held a news briefing. The White House continues to insist it will not negotiate with House Republicans over the debt ceiling. “The House Republican position is, unless the president and the Senate agree to their entire agenda, they are going to default and crash the economy,” Jean-Pierre said. “And that is dangerous.” Jean-Pierre later described the House Republican proposal as “cruel.”
McCarthy released his long-awaited debt ceiling legislation last Wednesday, proposing to raise the debt ceiling over the next year either by $1.5 trillion or until March 31, 2024, whichever comes first. But the White House quickly dismissed it as dangerous, something Jean-Pierre repeated. “We have been very clear,” she said. “There will not be any negotiation around the debt ceiling. This is something that is their constitutional duty to do. They’ve done it three times — you’ve heard me say it over and over again — three times during the last administration, and they should do it now.”
McCarthy met with Biden in January to begin negotiations on the debt ceiling, but that meeting ended without a binding agreement because the White House maintained it would not discuss federal spending until the borrowing limit was lifted. McCarthy said he has not spoken with Biden since that initial meeting, accusing the president of “bumbling his way into the first default in our nation’s history.”
other clips of this published longer video is here: https://youtu.be/jy8z4z2RGfk
Karine Jean-Pierre: No Plan For Biden To Sit Down And Speak To Republican Leadership Over Debt Limit