McCarthy says that Biden had opposed debt limit increases when he was a senator during debt ceiling fights two decades ago

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Monday night, just before President Biden’s State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, that the debt ceiling could be used as a bargaining chip to get spending cuts.

“Debates about debt limits have been used in almost every successful effort to change the way the government spends money in recent history. Why? “Because the problem can’t be solved until both sides come to the table,” McCarthy said in his Monday night speech, which lasted about 10 minutes.

He said that when Biden was a senator and there were fights over raising the debt limit 20 years ago, Biden was against raising it.

Last week, Biden and McCarthy met at the White House, and afterward, the Speaker said that they could find “common ground” on the issue of the debt limit. But there hasn’t been any progress on a deal yet because the White House wants a “clean” increase in the debt limit that isn’t tied to any other spending rules.

Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the White House, said in a statement before McCarthy’s speech that Biden will use his State of the Union address to talk about ways to reduce the deficit that are in laws he has signed, such as raising taxes on big companies. He will also criticize Republicans for passing tax cuts during the Trump administration that added to the debt.

“House Republicans are threatening to actively throw our economy into a tailspin with a default, which they have a non-negotiable, Constitutional duty to stop, unless they can cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid even more. “It makes no sense at all,” Bates said.

McCarthy answered that message from the White House by saying that Republicans want a “responsible debt limit increase” and putting to rest worries about cuts to entitlement spending.

McCarthy said, “We will keep our ability to defend this country from threats from abroad.” “There will be no cuts to Medicare or Social Security.”

“We can’t just stop paying our debts. But neither is a future with higher taxes, higher interest rates, and an economy that doesn’t work for working Americans,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said he would keep negotiating with Biden and try to find “common ground” by taking a different approach.

“Don’t draw lines in the sand or say, “My way or the highway.” McCarthy said, “No policy tricks or political games.” “But above all, no blank checks for spending that gets out of hand.”

McCarthy did draw one line in the sand after his speech, though: no tax hikes.

“We aren’t going to raise taxes. “I want to make that very clear,” McCarthy told the reporters.