Even a plurality of Republicans (46%) rejected their party’s default-friendly stance. (Independents were slightly more likely to blame Republicans than Biden, 37% to 29%.)īut the poll also found just 26% of respondents agreed that Congress should “allow government to pay debts only if Biden agrees to cut spending.” Fifty-eight percent said the debt limit and the budget should be handled separately. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found Americans almost split on whom they’d blame for a debt default, with 39% saying Republicans in Congress, 36% saying Biden and 16% saying both. Third, voters reject Republicans’ false choice between spending cuts and default. But if congressional Republicans confirm there is no deal to be had, it can go some way toward rebutting this farcical view and increase the pressure, if only a little, on the few Republicans who have good-faith intentions to solve the crisis. If there were a debate over whether the sky was blue or red, they would take the view that it’s purple. That these voices have chosen to talk about the importance of negotiation rather than point out the recklessness of Republicans’ pushing the country toward default is sadly unsurprising. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., (who, unsurprisingly, think they should be key players in said negotiations) and outside groups like the business lobby and nonpartisan budget hawks. They include so-called moderates such as Sens. Second, this approach sends a message to voices urging Biden to negotiate. Voters reject Republicans’ false choice between spending cuts and default. Any hint that McCarthy is considering increased revenues would immediately put him at risk of being ousted as speaker.

A McCarthy spokesman didn’t dispute Norman’s characterization. That’s the exact opposite of an opening bid.

Ralph Norman, R-Va., a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, told Politico that McCarthy wooed the group by characterizing the bill as a floor, not a ceiling. The House’s recent debt limit vote - which McCarthy allies now are portraying as a victory after he spent months trying to avoid passing such a bill - illustrated how tight the restraints on McCarthy are. That’s why at the outset, Biden should ask a simple question: “Are revenues on the table?” The likelier answer is “no.” But if we’re playing along with Republicans’ fiction that this is a real negotiation, then both sides will get something. Obviously, not all of those measures would make it into a debt-ceiling compromise. Biden’s proposal would also partly repeal former President Donald Trump’s corporate tax cut, which never delivered the benefits that - stop me if you’ve heard this one before - Republicans promised would trickle down. It’s a ransom note.īiden’s budget provides a template for the revenue side: repealing the 2017 Trump tax cuts for those making more than $400,000 a year, increasing capital gains taxes on millionaires and closing the “carried interest” and “pass-through” loopholes, which overwhelmingly favor the wealthy. But in the more likely scenario that they say tax increases are off the table, it would confirm beyond any shadow of doubt that McCarthy’s own debt limit bill isn’t an invitation to negotiate. If Republicans agree that any deal will include raising taxes on the wealthy and/or corporations, then a solution might be possible. There’s a simple test, though, to determine whether the GOP is negotiating in good faith - and it can be found in the president’s budget proposal to repeal Trump-era tax cuts. If more than a handful of Republicans really want to compromise with Biden, it would be a first. We’re just asking him to be a responsible leader and do that again.” In a letter to the president, 43 Republican senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, declared themselves “united” behind their House counterparts, who have “taken a responsible first step in coming to the table with their proposals.” House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, told “Fox News Sunday” that Biden “negotiated as vice president and as a senator. As President Joe Biden meets with congressional leaders Tuesday about raising the debt ceiling, Republicans, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, insist they are serious about negotiating a deal.

James downie