McCarthy rebrands looming debt ceiling breach: ‘Biden default’

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is setting up to pin a looming possible financial crisis on President Biden, the Republican leader indicated on Wednesday, declaring that it would be the “Biden default” if an agreement is not reached in time on raising the debt limit, Fox News informs.

“Our debt is larger than our economy, by more than 20%. If we do nothing, we will pay more in interest in the next ten years than we paid in the last 83,” the speaker said at a press conference. “If we do nothing, and you follow along… God forbid you get a Biden default because he ignores the problem just as he ignored the border.”

Biden had his second meeting on the debt limit with McCarthy and other Congressional leaders, just before jetting off to Japan for the Group of 7 summit.

Talks have so far resulted in little movement, with Democrats maintaining their position and Republicans demanding spending cuts drawn out in their Limit, Save, Grow Act be paired with any increase of the debt ceiling. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer appeared to change his tune after the sit-down, telling reporters, “Hopefully we can come to an agreement…Having a bipartisan bill in both chambers is the only way we’re going to avoid default.”

However, despite the seemingly modest progress, Republicans have signaled that they still have knives out for Biden if a deal is not made by June 1, around when the U.S. is expected to run out of cash to pay all of its obligations.

McCarthy referenced the “Biden default” at another point in the press conference, declaring, “This is a moment in time to make that stand. The only question is whether we have a Biden default or not.”