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Officially, the American people were the winners from a debt ceiling deal to stave off a default.
But as Shalanda Young, the top White House negotiator, discussed the terms of the agreement on Tuesday it sounded more like she thought the Biden administration had come out on top.
She began by cracking jokes and later confirmed that the administration was ready to override one of the Republicans’ key clauses.
And then she took a long pause when asked by a reporter whether the president came out ahead.
‘The American people came out ahead,’ she said in the White House briefing room.
‘When you go into these things, what are you doing it for?
Shalanda Young (right), the top White House negotiator, shared jokes with the White House press corps on Tuesday, much to the delight of Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
Conservative House Republicans have outlined an array of criticism on the deal struck by Biden and McCarthy over the weekend
‘Sure. There are some days where I have to slap myself and you’re like, Ah, let it go. It’s fine. The point is to avoid default, not hurt American people in the process by having draconian changes … like we saw in the Republican bill on Medicaid, which we did not care for it.
‘So protect the things that would have hurt hardworking Americans. Come up with reasonable spending levels, which I think most Americans, when they hear a spending freeze that’s reasonable and do our basic have Congress’s basic constitutional duty, which is avoid default.
‘So this isn’t about Republicans or Democrats. If you get into who won, who didn’t, you lost already.’
Some Republicans wanted deep cuts. A bill passed by the House in April would have rolled back spending to 2022 levels and capped rises at one percent for the next decade.
At the same time, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is encountering resistance to persuading hardline members of his party to back the deal.
Republican defectors estimate it would add $4 trillion to the national debt, even though it includes $136 billion in budget cuts.
As a result, he could face a vote to remove him from office.
Rep. Dan Bishop became the first to public float the idea of ousting the speaker on Tuesday.he has absolutely ‘zero’ confidence in Kevin McCarthy as he became the first Republican to publicly float the idea of ousting the speaker due to the debt limit deal.
‘What basis is there for confidence?’ Bishop said at a press conference held by the rightwing House Freedom Caucus, when he raised his hand to say he would put the motion to vacate the speaker ‘on the table.’
‘There are 222 members of the Republican conference. Nobody in the Republican conference could have done a worse job,’ at negotiations than McCarthy, he added.
For his part, the House speaker continues to portray the agreement as a win for Republicans.
McCarthy told reporters he’s not worried about a motion to vacate. ‘Tell me again. What did the Democrats put in it?’ he said.
The deal was announced on Sunday. Lawmakers must rush to pass it into law before June 5, forecast as the day the federal government could run out of cash and fail to pay its credit bills.
Freedom Caucus members sounded off about the debt ceiling deal struck between McCarthy and Biden at a news conference on Wednesday, as a demonstrator stood behind them
Hardliners have begun to float the idea of removing McCarthy from the post of speaker
The House is expected to vote on Wednesday, while the Senate could eat up yet more time before it lands on Biden’s desk.
The list of likely no votes in the House stands at 22.
Young, White House budget director, urged Congress to pass the bill.
‘I want to be clear: This agreement represents a compromise, which means no one gets everything that they want and hard choices had to be made,’ Young told reporters.
She was Biden’s top negotiator. And arrived in jubilant mood in the briefing room, cracking jokes about the intensity and length of talks.
‘I will see my child again,’ she said with a smile. ‘I do have a small confession to make. I’m also out of clean clothes.’
Speaker Kevin McCarthy unveiled the 99-page bill raising the debt ceiling to avoid the U.S. defaulting
Then she described being spotted by reporters in the morning rushing to get fresh clothes.
‘I didn’t have time to do laundry or take anything to the dry cleaner,’ she said. ‘So that’s about how my last two weeks have gone.’
She added that the deal would protect the administration’s legislative achievements.
And she signaled that the administration was ready to use a waiver to override one of the Republicans’ key wins.
They secured a budgeting mechanism known as ‘PAYGO’ — short for pay-as-you-go — which requires new spending to be offset by savings, but it comes with an override.
‘We will follow the processes laid out in the law on PAYGO,’ said Young. ‘And if that waiver is deemed necessary to make sure President Biden’s agenda is cared for … we’re gonna use that.’
