House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Monday said he had a “productive discussion” with President Joe Biden.
McCarthy said after he left a meeting at the White House with Biden, “I felt we had a productive discussion. We don’t have an agreement yet.” He added that he continues to oppose any measures to increase taxes or raise revenue in a debt ceiling deal.
“The tone tonight was better than any other time we’ve had discussions,” McCarthy added.
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed and other White House staff stand by in the Oval Office as U.S. President Joe Biden and Congressional leaders face the press before a meeting about raising the debt limit in the Oval Office at the White House on May 16, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The debt ceiling meeting featured White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young, Biden adviser Steve Richetti, and Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) Louisa Terrell.
On McCarthy’s side, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, McCarthy chief of staff Dan Meyer, and McCarthy adviser Brittan Specht attended the meeting.
“We’ve had tough meetings. We’ve had difficult meetings. This meeting was productive… No acrimony,” McHenry said.
Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) top Republican on the House Budget Committee, joined at left by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., comments to reporters as Congress preps for its first votes on the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview ahead of the meeting that passing the Limit, Save, Grow Act, or the GOP debt ceiling bill, would have a “huge” impact on inflation.
He said, “Inflation was 1.4 percent in Joe Biden’s first month of office, and then they went on a $10 trillion spending spree which has led to inflation increasing the 14.9% since Joe Biden has taken the oath of office. The Limit, Save, Grow Act will cut spending by $4.8 trillion over the next 10 years with the spending caps; they will also rescind unobligated COVID dollars and also put work requirements to help with the labor shortage. All of these things will help decrease inflation.”
The initial Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of the Limit, Save, Grow Act found it would reduce the deficit by $4.8 trillion over the next ten years. The CBO found the bill would create the following savings:
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
Comments are closed.