Manchin Blasts Biden on Debt Ceiling

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Thursday blasted President Joe Biden for rejecting GOP debt ceiling negotiations, accusing him of showing a “deficiency of leadership.”

“America is facing a historic economic crisis brought on by an abject failure to address our exploding national debt, chronic inflation, a looming recession, and the more immediate need to raise the debt ceiling. Our elected leaders must stop with the political games, work together, and negotiate a compromise,” Manchin said in a statement.

“Instead, it has been more than 78 days since President Biden last met with Speaker McCarthy. This signals a deficiency of leadership, and it must change,” he added.  

The White House on Wednesday slammed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling plan to cut $4.5 trillion in spending, saying it would jeopardize more than 100,000 green manufacturing jobs.

“‘Let me kill over 100,000 manufacturing jobs – mostly in red states – or I’ll force America to default on bills we racked up and trigger a recession,’ is the opposite of a compelling message,” Andrew Bates, White House deputy press secretary, said in a memo.

He said McCarthy’s bill “would take a two-by-four – on behalf of China – to America’s manufacturing resurgence.”

If the divided Congress fails to raise the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, the government could face a default that would shake the U.S. and world economies.

Several House Republicans on Thursday either raised concerns about the proposal or acknowledged a tough battle ahead on a bill that is unlikely to win Democratic support.

McCarthy faces a tough path as he can lose only five votes from his razor-thin 222-member majority to pass legislation if Democrats remain united in opposition. It took him 15 rounds of voting in January to win the speakership, a sign of the dissension within the caucus over his leadership.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.