Has the White House Reached Out to McCarthy? Jean-Pierre: 'Congress Must Act' (May 1, 2023)

A month before the government was projected to hit its borrowing limit, a reporter asked the White House a basic question: Had anyone actually reached out to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy? Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answered with an attack on the Republican plan, and when pressed whether that meant no meeting, she laughed and said, “Congress must act” [1][3].

The video above shows the exchange from the May 1, 2023, White House briefing. By the next afternoon, the White House was announcing that President Joe Biden had called McCarthy and the other congressional leaders that same day. Quotes are from the official transcripts published by the American Presidency Project [1][2].

”We’ve Been Very Clear, Matt”

“You had indicated earlier that the President is prepared to talk about the budget appropriations process and that he’d be happy to meet with Speaker McCarthy, but not on whether the debt limit is raised,” the reporter said. “Has the White House done anything to reach out to the Speaker to begin that conversation over the budget? And what happens if he does want to talk about the debt limit in concert with that discussion?” [1]

Jean-Pierre did not answer whether anyone had called. “I mean, we’ve been very clear, Matt. We’ve been very clear that what they have put forward — look, it’s not a plan. It’s a recipe for economic catastrophe,” she said. “They’re putting the wealth and the foreign bondholders, including billionaires and banks in China, over working Americans” [1].

She ran through the White House’s case against the House Republican bill, citing “22 percent cuts on veterans and — and Meals on Wheels” and warning that it put “6 million jobs on the line.” Congress, she said, needed to “do its job and prevent default” [1].

”So It Sounds Like No Meeting in the Works?”

The reporter tried once more. “So it sounds like no meeting in the works?” [1]

“Well — (laughs) — what I can say is: Congress must act. And could say that over and over again. The President spoke to it moments ago,” Jean-Pierre said [1].

”That’s Not Negotiable”

Earlier in the same briefing, a reporter noted that McCarthy, speaking in Israel, had again said, “We will not pass a debt ceiling that just raises it without doing something about our debt,” and asked whether Biden would hold off on a meeting “until McCarthy gives in” [1].

Jean-Pierre held the line. “The President is prepared to talk about budget and appropriations process. That’s what we have said. We are not a deadbeat nation,” she said. “And the President said he’s happy to meet with McCarthy but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended. That’s not negotiable” [1].

The White House line all spring was that Biden would not negotiate on the debt limit itself. Four days earlier, on April 27, Jean-Pierre had said the same thing from the podium, as HYGO News reported in its page on that briefing.

Then the Phone Calls

That same afternoon, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress the government could hit its debt limit “as early as June 1.” In a letter to House and Senate leaders, she urged lawmakers “to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible” [3].

The next day, Jean-Pierre opened her briefing with news. “That’s why the President called each of the four leaders yesterday and asked that they come to the White House on May 9th to discuss the urgency and importance of avoiding default,” she said. “In his calls, he was clear: It is Congress’s constitutional duty to prevent default. This is not an issue that we will negi- — negotiate on” [2].

Reporters wanted to know what had changed. “Can you just walk us through the decision by the President to reach out to the leaders and hold this meeting now?” one asked. “You’ve made it very clear that his position hasn’t changed. So what changed his mind to now hold this meeting?” [2]

The meeting was set a week out partly because McCarthy was traveling. “Speaker McCarthy is out of the country currently,” Jean-Pierre said [2].

The Bill Republicans Passed

McCarthy had already done what the White House demanded of Congress, in his own way. On April 26, the House passed his Limit, Save, Grow Act, 217-215 [4], a bill to secure spending cuts in exchange for a debt limit increase, as the AP described it [3]. The White House called it the “Default on America Act” [2].

Biden had attacked the plan himself. On April 19, he told a union crowd in Accokeek, Maryland, that McCarthy had gone to Wall Street “to describe the MAGA economic vision for America” [9], as HYGO News reported from that speech.

By the Numbers

June 1: the earliest date Yellen said the government could run out of room under the debt limit [3].
$31.4 trillion: the debt limit at the time [3].
217-215: the House vote passing McCarthy’s Limit, Save, Grow Act on April 26, 2023 [4].
4: congressional leaders Biden called the day of the briefing [2].
314-117: the House vote passing the final debt deal on May 31, 2023 [5].
63-36: the Senate vote on June 1, 2023 [6].

What Happened Next

The no-negotiation stance ended in a deal. After weeks of talks, Biden and McCarthy reached a budget agreement. The House passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 on May 31, 314-117, with 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats voting yes [5]. The Senate followed on June 1, 63-36. CBS News described it as “the deal negotiated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Mr. Biden” [6].

The deal suspended the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit until January 2025, kept spending flat for 2024 and imposed limits for 2025. It also imposed stricter work requirements for food stamps and clawed back some IRS funding and unspent COVID relief funds, CBS reported. “I wanted to make history,” McCarthy said after the House vote. He said he wanted “to do something no other Congress has done, that we would literally turn the ship and for the first time in quite some time, we’d spend less than we spent the year before” [6].

Biden signed it. “No one gets everything they want in a negotiation, but make no mistake: This bipartisan agreement is a big win for our economy and the American people,” Biden said after the Senate vote [7]. He signed it on June 3, 2023. The law suspended the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025 [8].

More of Jean-Pierre’s answers checked against the record are on HYGO News’ Karine Jean-Pierre record page.