President Joe Biden’s White House is begging CEOs to pressure Republicans to cave on the debt ceiling as Biden prepares to meet with congressional leaders this week to discuss the debt limit.
Biden will sit down with congressional leaders on Tuesday after months of ignoring House Republicans’ request to negotiate. Biden agreed to sit down for negotiations after House Republicans rallied behind Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to support the Limit, Save, Grow Act, which would lift the debt ceiling through early next year and save the government an estimated $4.8 trillion over the next ten years.
However, Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is personally calling CEOs to urge them to put pressure on Republicans, according to Reuters.
Yellin is calling CEOs from the financial sector and the broader economy to warn them about the “dangerous consequences of the current brinkmanship,” one source told Reuters.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies before a House appropriations subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
As the outlet reported:
The sources declined to name the CEOs with whom Yellen had spoken in recent days, or provide any other details about their conversations, but one said they included executives in the financial sector and the broader economy.
While the sources did not spell out her purpose, Biden administration officials have been speaking to business owners about pressuring Republicans to raise the debt ceiling without conditions.
Yellen’s calls come one week after she told lawmakers the United States could default on its debts as early as June 1.
Despite the upcoming negotiations between Biden and congressional leaders, the White House is not budging on their support for a “clean” debt ceiling bill that would raise the debt limit without including meaningful budget cuts Republicans seek.
“There is no Plan B,” National Economic Council deputy director Bharat Ramamurti told CNN on Monday.
“Our plan is for Congress to act to address the debt limit without conditions, just like they have done 78 times in the past. Just like they did three times under President Trump, even as they were adding $8 trillion to the deficit,” Ramamurti added.
However, Biden is losing leverage and facing increased calls to negotiate with Republicans.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s top lobbyist Neil Bradley called on Biden to negotiate and find solutions on the debt limit and “runaway deficits.”
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) is one of several organizations that have urged Biden to reach an agreement with House Republicans.
CRFB president Maya MacGuineas said:
If less time were spent finger-pointing and engaging in us-against-them rhetoric, our leaders could have already come up with a reasonable plan to lift the debt ceiling and pass a package of savings. They need to stop acting like two teams more intent on winning than governing.
Bipartisan Policy Center senior vice president G. William Hoagland also said there “has to be negotiations.”
“Our position has been — and it’s no surprise from a bipartisan perspective — that the solution here has to be negotiations,” Hoagland said. “When you have a divided government, let’s be honest and make a compromise. I don’t think we’re taking anybody’s side, but we think both sides have taken a position.”
Watch: White House Dodges on if It Will Default Rather than Have Any Cuts: That’s “Not the Situation” — “There Is No Plan B”
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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