President Joe Biden claimed the fight over raising the debt ceiling is a"manufactured crisis" created by Republicans.
Biden tried to bolster Democrats' negotiating position by praising the latest job reports from the Bureau of Labor on Friday, reporting the U.S. added 235,000 jobs in April. Statistics show that unemployment rates fell to 3.4%, a record low level since 1969. The report comes after a year of several Federal Reserve interest rate rises, with a 16-year high hike of 0.25 percentage points hitting Thursday. Biden praised his administration for adding 12 million new jobs since taking office.
“Next week I'm going to reiterate to congressional leaders that they should do what every other Congress has done – that is pass the debt limit, avoid default,” Biden said. "Our MAGA Republicans in Congress are threatening to undo all this progress by letting us 'default on the debt' unless we agree to their demands," he said, referring to claims his administration had reduced the federal deficit by $1.7 trillion."The two are totally unrelated. Whether you pay the debt or not doesn't have a damn thing to do with what your budget is."