Democrat Blames Biden for Debt Ceiling Chaos

A Democratic lawmaker believes the Biden administration should not have waited so long to negotiate the debt ceiling with top Republican officials.

Biden met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Tuesday in an attempt to find common ground following the House Republican's party-line passing of the "Limit, Save, Grow Act" that would raise the federal debt limit through March 31, 2024, or until the debt increases by $1.5 trillion.

Maine Representative Jared Golden told NBC's Garrett Haake on Meet the Press on Wedesday that Biden and other Democrats have been put in a "weaker position" because they let months pass between meaningful budget discussions.

"I've been disappointed with the way [the Biden administration] has handled it up until the last week essentially, writing a letter to the president on February 1, saying we need to negotiate," Golden said. "I've put out a kind of mini proposal to say, well, here's some ideas to kickstart talks. I did that in early April....It's good to see the progress that's taking place now, of course there's urgency as we're running up against a potential deadline. It didn't have to be this way."

The Washington Post's Jeff Stein tweeted Wednesday afternoon that five Senate Democrats are circulating a letter urging Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment as a means of bypassing the GOP on the debt limit, as a way of "preventing a global economic catastrophe."

The senators are Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders, according to NBC News. The fifth senator in support remains unverified.

"I think we should do our job," Democratic Senator Chris Murphy previously told NBC's Chuck Todd when asked if Biden should invoke the amendment. "I think that's a precedent to just absolve Congress from being adults."

Golden's plan, detailed in a substantive April 14 Substack post, criticized Biden for not following through on his 2020 promise to be a "bipartisan dealmaker." It also denounced McCarthy, who according to Golden is holding the debt ceiling and, in turn, the entire economy "hostage."

Golden's ideas include to revert discretionary spending to fiscal year 2022 levels, adjusted for inflation in fiscal year 2024 and freezing that level in fiscal year 2025 to save about $150 billion.

Along with rescinding and discontinuing unused COVID-19 funds, Golden is in favor of reversing Biden's $400 billion student debt cancellation plan, which a White House source previously told Newsweek remains on the table as part of negotiations.

Biden said Wednesday that all involved in negotiations have agreed that default is not an option.

"We're gonna come together because there's no alternative to do the right thing for the country," Biden said. "We have to move on. To be clear, this negotiation is about the outlines of what the budget will look like, not about whether or not we're going to in fact pay our debts."

Jay Oliver, political commentator and host at LI News Radio, told Newsweek on Wednesday that the Biden administration's negotiating delay is a "major mistake."

"If the process would have started three months ago, Democrats would have been in a position of power," Oliver said. "Instead, their backs are to the wall and are forced at the 11th [hour] to get the job done, or [face] a look of failure as giving in somewhat—thus a not-so-good look as far as the voters are concerned.

"Jared Golden is one of the few moderate Democrats who frequently vote across party lines and certainly is not afraid to criticize party leadership."

Asked about work requirements, Golden said the lack of a negotiating urgency "was not tenable" and has prevented further discussions about issues important to the country.

One of those discussions revolves around more stringent work requirements for individuals who benefit from programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

More heavily enforced restrictions for that program, as well as Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), has been called "a nonstarter for many of us across the Democratic caucus" by Washington Representative Pramila Jayapal, leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, according to Common Dreams.

The Limit, Save, Grow Act includes a direct 22 percent funding cut to the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), which conservatives dispute in terms of cuts not occurring evenly across the board. Republicans, according to Politico, were expected Wednesday to approve legislation bill that funds the VA and military construction projects in wake of comments made by Biden and Democrats. It is unclear how the GOP would decrease overall spending on the government programs under negotiations while supporting increases for the VA.

Before the new VA funding measure, Republicans were hammered on the issue by Biden, who tweeted last weekend: "They are proposing cutting veterans' health care funding, which would result in as many as 30 million fewer veteran outpatient visits."

Golden told Haake that the deficit needs to be reduced from a fiscal standpoint, but it cannot be defined by cuts to important programs as pushed by House Republicans.

"We can talk about taxes on the wealthiest Americans in this country, rolling back portions of the 2017 tax cut which largely benefited a lot of very wealthy households and individuals," Golden said. "We can dedicate that to paying off our nation's debt."

Newsweek reached out to Golden via email for comment.

Update 05/17/23 3:03 p.m. ET: This story was updated with reports that multiple Democratic senators want Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment.