While vowing that “defaulting on our debt is not an option,” McCarthy faces his own challenges pushing a legislative fix to passage.
Instead, McCarthy is seeking to shift blame for the standoff and draw the White House back into talks. “The longer President Biden waits to be sensible to find an agreement, the more likely it becomes that this administration will bumble into the first default in our nation’s history,” he said.
“President Biden and I are happy to meet with the speaker when he has something to talk about,” Schumer said. “He went all the way to Wall Street and gave us no more detail. No more facts, no new information at all.” And McCarthy said the House Republicans also want to tack on H.R. 1, an expansive energy bill that would favor oil, gas and coal production — and ease permitting regulations — undoing many of Biden’s climate change-fighting initiatives.Many economists have suggested that it may take a stock market selloff to force an agreement, showing the risks of a possible default.