WH on Debt Ceiling: ‘This Should Not Be Political Brinksmanship'

(CNSNews.com) – President Biden will not negotiate over raising the debt ceiling, which will be reached on Thursday, the White House said Tuesday.

The debt ceiling is the total amount of money the federal government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations. That includes Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments. 

That limit was raised to $31.381 trillion on Dec. 16, 2021.

“Once the limit is reached, Treasury will need to start taking certain extraordinary measures to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday.

When asked how the White House sees the debt ceiling fight playing out and what’s the strategy for getting agreement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “So look, we have been very clear on this, and I said it at the top. I said it on Friday, and I’ll say it today. So has the president. This should not be political brinksmanship. 

“We should be dealing with the debt ceiling without conditions. It is important. We’re not going to work our way around this. We’re not going to negotiate on this. This is the basic, the basic duties of Congress is to deal with this issue, and let’s not forget in the last administration, they – meaning Democrats and Republicans – were able to deal with the debt limit three times, three times,” she said.

“So this is something that needs to be done, that should be done, and we call on Congress to act,” the press secretary said.

When asked whether the president is going to sit down with Republicans and talk about it, Jean-Pierre said, “Again, this is something that should be done without conditions. We have been very, very clear about that. We are not going to be negotiating over the debt ceiling, but I’ll say this more broadly. 

“At the start of the new Congress, and I actually spoke about this last week, we’re reaching out to all members in both parties to build relationships and establish points of contact,” the press secretary said.

“That is something that the Office of Leg Affairs has done for the past couple of weeks, but you know, this has been done when you talk about the debt ceiling, it has been done in a bipartisan way, and there should be bipartisan cooperation to address this. It should not be a political football. This should not be a political football, and we should do it without conditions,” she added.

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