On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) flat-out accused President Biden of being “completely missing in action” on the debt limit negotiations and told him to “drop the partisanship, roll up our sleeves, and find common ground on this urgent challenge.”

He met with the president at the White House on Feb. 1. The meeting was to address how to handle the debt ceiling. McCarthy claims he saw an “opportunity here to come to an agreement” that would satisfy both parties.

The House Speaker wrote a letter to Biden on Tuesday reminding him of what they had discussed and informed him that he had dropped the ball on negotiations.

“Nearly two months ago, you and I sat down to discuss a path forward on the debt limit,” McCarthy wrote in his letter to Biden. “Since that time, however, you and your team have been completely missing in action on any meaningful follow-up to this rapidly approaching deadline.”

Mr. President:

I'm incredibly concerned you are putting an already fragile economy in jeopardy by insisting upon your extreme position on the debt limit. It’s time to drop partisanship, roll up our sleeves, & find common ground on this urgent challenge. https://t.co/HUbg7DckWU pic.twitter.com/t4zIaZUAqI

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) March 28, 2023

“[W]ith each passing day, I am incredibly concerned you are putting an already fragile economy in jeopardy by insisting upon your extreme position of refusing to negotiate any meaningful changes to out-of-control government spending alongside an increase of the debt limit,” McCarthy continued in his letter.

He posited that Biden’s position on the debt ceiling, “if maintained,” could “prevent America from meeting its obligations and hold dire ramifications for the entire nation.”

“I have no interest in brinksmanship — only in doing what is best for the American people,” McCarthy asserted. “We cannot solve the nation’s fiscal problems overnight, and House Republicans are not demanding we do so. But we cannot continue to kick the can down the road and ignore America’s ballooning national debt, all while you continue to spend trillions more, including through unaccountable executive fiat.”

McCarthy further said that House Republicans are “united” in their stance that the best way to reduce the national debt is to “limit spending, save taxpayer money and grow the economy.”

.@SpeakerMcCarthy calls out Biden on the debt limit:

“He has misled the whole Congress and the country… told the entire Congress that we're going to meet. At the Democratic retreat, he told the Democrats that they were planning meetings. He's never had one meeting” pic.twitter.com/kJ8XNGTGJD

— GOP (@GOP) March 28, 2023

The House Speaker says that he is prepared and willing to meet with the president to discuss “a variety of means to do so that would achieve trillions of dollars in savings and economic growth — some of which you even agreed to during the Biden Debt Limit talks of 2011.”

Fox News reported, “McCarthy outlined those avenues, including reduction of excessive non-defense government spending to ‘pre-inflationary levels’ and limiting out-year growth; reclaiming unspent COVID funds; strengthening work requirements for those without dependents who can work; and enacting policies to grow the economy and keep Americans safe. McCarthy said those policies would include measures to lower energy costs, make America energy independent, and secure the border ‘from the flow of deadly fentanyl that is killing 300 Americans per day.'”

“Taken together, such policies would help address the number one issue facing Americans today: stubbornly high inflation brought on by reckless government spending,” he proclaimed.

“Mr. President, simply put: you are on the clock,” McCarthy warned. “It’s time to drop the partisanship, roll up our sleeves, and find common ground on this urgent challenge.”

He went on to request that the president have White House staff contact the speaker’s office by the end of the week to set a date for their next meeting.

.@SpeakerMcCarthy on debt ceiling negotiations: “I have been waiting to get to the table the entire time. Unfortunately, the president doesn’t think it’s important. He’s really jeopardizing the financial markets of America by his activity.” pic.twitter.com/M1Yw5BZtmh

— The Hill (@thehill) March 24, 2023

The debt ceiling is currently sitting at a whopping $31.381 trillion. It was hit almost two weeks ago. That is the “legal limit on the total amount of debt that the federal government can borrow to fund everything from Social Security and Medicare benefits to military salaries and tax refunds,” according to Fox News. McCarthy commented in February that the nation’s debt is the “greatest threat” America faces.

The president has disingenuously repeated the claim that Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare. McCarthy denies that assertion.

The last time the debt ceiling was raised was in December 2021. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is claiming that the government can pay its bills through early June without needing an increase in the government’s borrowing limit but time is fast running out.

The president’s mouthpiece, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, replied to McCarthy’s letter, saying that Biden is still not interested in negotiations, according to Fox News.

“It’s time for Republicans to stop playing games, pass a clean debt ceiling bill, and quit threatening our economic recovery,” she scathingly responded. Jean-Pierre also said Biden would welcome a “separate” discussion on the nation’s fiscal future. Then she proceeded to falsely accuse Republicans of threatening a “list of devastating cuts to law enforcement and border security and proposals to take healthcare away from Americans and raise healthcare and child care costs.”

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