In a news update from Japan, President Biden received an update on the budget negotiations from his team at 10 a.m. local time. Following the meeting, White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt issued a statement criticizing the Republicans.
LaBolt said, “President Biden has made clear for weeks that Congress must act to prevent default.” He referred to the meeting earlier this week at the White House where Biden met with the four Congressional leaders. The four leaders expressed optimism about the possibility of a bipartisan bill and were also positive about the new format of negotiations.
According to White House Communication Director Bolt, following the meeting, the President assigned a negotiating team and directed them to “act in good faith” to reach an agreement. However, LaBolt stated, “Republicans are recycling a barely watered-down version of their extreme budget proposal that would eliminate 100,000 jobs for teachers and support staff, cut 2,000 law enforcement positions, and could put the health care coverage for millions of Americans at risk, all while extending tax breaks for the wealthiest and corporations. The Republican position is especially galling given that the debt increased by 40% under President Trump, and those same tax breaks cost taxpayers $2 trillion. Furthermore, Republicans are even attempting to reward tax cheats by gutting funding for the IRS.”
The White House maintains that “any serious budget negotiation must include discussion of both spending and revenues, but Republicans have refused to discuss revenue.”
LaBolt stated that President Biden has reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion in his first two years in office with a balanced approach and has proposed a budget that would further cut the deficit by $3 trillion. According to LaBolt, “Republicans are focused on pulling the rug out from under hardworking Americans instead of considering the President’s proposal to cut wasteful spending and reduce the deficit by eliminating subsidies for oil and gas companies and pharmaceuticals, and by asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share.”
