Vance Slams Biden for 'Playing Russian Roulette' with the Economy

Sen. J.D. Vance on Wednesday slammed President Joe Biden for “basically playing Russian roulette with the country’s finances” and trying to “drive the American economy off the cliff.”

“House Republicans have done something very simple, but I think very profound: they’ve advanced a program that pays the country’s debts while putting the country on a more sustainable path financially,” Vance said at a press conference on Wednesday in front of the U.S. Capitol.

“And what Joe Biden has done is refuse to negotiate from the very beginning,” Vance added. “He’s basically playing Russian roulette with the country’s finances and telling Republicans they need to do exactly what he wants them to do, or he’s going to drive the American economy off the cliff.”

The Ohio senator was referring to the House Republicans passing legislation — the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 — last month to raise the debt ceiling without any Democrat support, and when Biden was not willing to negotiate. The legislation would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion while tackling America’s national deficit by saving the government an estimated $4.8 trillion over the next ten years.

And while the U.S. is expected to reach its debt limit as early as this summer, Biden refused to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to discuss the plan with the House Republicans. That was until earlier this week when he caved to McCarthy and called him to set up a meeting on May 9 to negotiate.

“What Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans just did is save the President of the United States from his own failure of leadership,” the Buckeye State Republican continued. “This could have been a very productive process if Joe Biden from the get-go had shown some leadership, which is what you should expect from the President of the United States.”

Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned of “economic catastrophe” if Biden and Congress cannot move to increase the limit in time.

“I guarantee you, all 217 Republicans who voted for it didn’t like at least one thing in the package, But they came together because paying the country’s debts and doing our job as leadership is more important than any single person,”

Vance, while noting that a lot of Democrats have criticized what is in the House-passed legislation, also said he would bet that all of the House Republicans did not like every single piece of the bill, but “they came together because paying the country’s debts and doing our job as leadership is more important than any single person.”

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.