A frantic and acrimonious month of talks between GOP lawmakers and White House aides staved off default — with little lasting change to the nation’s fiscal picture.
before the end of the month, defying Biden’s threat of a veto and surprising some White House aides, who confided to each other that they didn’t think the divided GOP majority could find common ground on legislation. Congressional Democrats were enraged, since McCarthy and his GOP allies never made similar demands of President, even as the party repeatedly raised the debt ceiling to carry out his policies, including a costly 2017 tax cut.
On one side was Zients, the chief of staff; Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president; Louisa Terrell, the top White House liaison to Congress; and Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, among other Biden advisers. Opposite them was a rotating cast of GOP aides, eventually led by two handpicked McCarthy surrogates: Graves and Rep. Patrick T. McHenry , his longtime allies.
“You’ve got two Irish guys that don’t drink, right,” McHenry joked. “So the bonding opportunity is not the same for an Irish guy like me.” Democrats, meanwhile, found themselves sparring with their own president. As talks progressed, liberal lawmakers grew increasingly vocal that Biden should sidestep Congress. A wide array of party leaders — including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal , the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — all urged Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment and declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional.
But Graves and his fellow Republicans took their complaints immediately to a throng of reporters gathered outside, telling them the negotiations were on a “pause” — and raising fears about a major breakdown at a pivotal moment. Recalling the exchange later, Graves said the two sides “took about two steps backwards,” as he accused the White House of “trying to retreat from previously agreed upon positions.
The comments seemed designed to quell a conservative rebellion, as members of the House Freedom Caucus ratcheted up their attacks on their own party’s leaders. “We’re going to fight,” pledged Rep. Ralph Norman , a member of the bloc, charging in an interview that week that “McCarthy can only do what our caucus, what our Republicans, say.”Among Democrats, meanwhile, party lawmakers grew increasingly fearful that Biden might agree to new work requirements for people on welfare.
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