Joe Biden Rails Against Kevin McCarthy’s Proposed Budget Plan

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., conducts a news conference in the U.S. Capi
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Wendell Husebø

President Joe Biden railed against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s preliminary budget plan at the White House on Tuesday.

While speaking about what the White House has termed the “care economy,” Biden attacked McCarthy and House Republicans’ preliminary budget plan to lift the debt ceiling until May 2024, create ten-year spending caps, claw back unspent coronavirus aid money, and enact a sweeping energy bill, the Lower Energy Costs Act, work requirement, along with the REINS Act.

McCarthy will likely try to pass the plan before April 28 to increase the Republicans’ negotiating ability with Biden, who has refused to negotiate with the House.

“He threatened to become the first speaker to default on our national debt … which would throw us into a gigantic recession and beyond unless he gets what he wants in the budget,” Biden claimed.

“Folks, you got to ask yourself, what are MAGA Republicans in Congress doing?” Biden questioned the proposal. “Why are they doing this? What is the purpose.”

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) holds an event to mark 100 days of the Republican majority in the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, April 17, 2023. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Using class warfare rhetoric, Biden alleged the MAGA budget plan would only help the wealthy while hurting the those on entitlements.

Biden did not mention the administration’s policies that fueled inflation and caused, in part, a bank crisis. In turn, interest rates have increased to tamp down inflation, as Americans have become increasingly concerned about the economy.

Security guards let individuals enter the Silicon Valley Bank's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on Monday, March 13, 2023. The federal government intervened Sunday to secure funds for depositors to withdraw from Silicon Valley Bank after the banks collapse. Dozens of individuals waited in line outside the bank to withdraw funds. (AP Photo/ Benjamin Fanjoy)

Security guards let individuals enter the Silicon Valley Bank’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, on Monday, March 13, 2023. (AP Photo/ Benjamin Fanjoy)

In 2022, Biden’s 40-year-high inflation cost American households an average of $5,200 extra, or $433 per month, according to Bloomberg.

“The speaker talked about limited spending,” Biden said. “It sounds good,” Biden quickly added, using the Republican proposal to congratulate his administration on allegedly cutting the deficit by $1.7 billion in two years.

According to an American Action Network poll released Tuesday, voters in 87 battleground districts largely agree with House Republicans’ plan to raise the debt ceiling with spending reforms.

Fifty percent of voters oppose increasing the debt ceiling without cutting spending. Just 37 percent of these voters want a clean debt ceiling to be passed through Congress. Fifty-three percent agree with McCarthy’s strategy. Only 39 percent agree with Biden’s plan.

WATCH: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV): Biden Is Creating Uncertainty over Debt Ceiling to Score Political Points:

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.

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