Democrat Slams Biden's 'Bad Policy' Debt Limit Compromise With McCarthy

Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, criticized President Joe Biden's compromise in negotiations to raise the country's debt ceiling as "bad policy."

Biden announced a tentative deal with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Saturday night to raise the $31.5 trillion debt limit for two years while also cutting federal spending following weeks of negotiations. The deal comes just days before the United States is set to default on its commitments, which experts say would have devastating effects on the global economy. Congress now has roughly one week to pass the bill into law, but various House factions are threatening to withhold support for it.

The deal is largely a compromise, meaning neither Democrats nor Republicans received everything they wished for. The deal will extend the debt limit until January 2025, cap spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, repeal unused COVID-19 relief funds, cut Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding and add work requirements for food aid programs, CNN reported.

Some Republicans, including Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have already said they will not support the bill, meaning McCarthy will likely need some support from Democratic lawmakers to raise the debt limit.

But Jayapal, the Washington Democrat who leads the caucus of 100 House progressives, issued a warning to Biden about the agreement during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday morning.

She told host Jake Tapper that the White House does need to "worry" about whether or not the progressive caucus will support the deal, specifically pointing to the expanded work requirements for food aid as "bad policy."

"It is bad policy. I told the president that directly when he called me last week on Wednesday. This is saying to poor people and people who are in need that we don't trust them. And the average amount of assistance for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is $6 a day. We're talking about $6 a day. And I think it is really unfortunate that the president opened the door to this," Jayapal said.

Jayapal also noted that moderate Democrats, specifically some members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, have also expressed concerns about work requirements.

"It's really unfortunate that it's even made its way into the discussion," she said.

Newsweek reached out to Jayapal and the White House for comment via email.

Meanwhile, some progressive Democrats previously urged Biden to go around congressional negotiations by invoking the 14th Amendment, which they say makes the debt ceiling illegal. They have also questioned why Biden would negotiate with Republicans over the debt limit.

"I'm very frustrated," Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York told CNN early last week. "I called on the president to evoke the 14th Amendment and mint a coin, and do not negotiate with hostage-takers. I mean, we don't negotiate with terrorists globally, why are we going to negotiate with the economic terrorists here that are the Republican Party?"