“There’s going to be no negotiation,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to news that the U.S. will hit its debt limit on January 19.
Fortunately, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is taking what she called “extraordinary measures” in order to gain more time for a resolution, The New York Times reported.
The Treasury secretary said that there is considerable uncertainty surrounding how long she can use measures to delay a default and that she would keep Congress abreast of the fiscal situation. Ms. Yellen said that she would begin suspending new investments in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund and suspending reinvestment of the Government Securities Investment Fund of the Federal Employees Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan later this month to avoiding breaching the debt limit.
The Washington Post reports Yellen’s moves could delay the breach until at least early June. The Post described her announcement as “an unofficial starting gun” in a potentially catastrophic dispute for U.S. and global economies. “Even the mere specter of a debt ceiling crisis — a series of standoffs that has only intensified in recent years — has previously roiled markets and cost the government billions of dollars,” The Post noted.
Despite their gaslighting claims to be working on behalf of hardworking Americans, Republicans have been salivating to use the debt ceiling to hold the U.S. economy hostage to their wet dream of slashing the programs hardworking Americans depend on – like Social Security and Medicare. The Post says, “some party lawmakers have suggested they hope to slash federal agencies and programs by billions of dollars."
President Biden has said he would not negotiate with the economic terrorists otherwise known as the House GOP over the debt limit. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated Friday in her press briefing, “there’s going to be no negotiation. This is something that must get done.”
However, Jean-Pierre also signaled there could be some behind-the-scenes negotiating, perhaps over a broader deal.
JEAN-PIERRE: Look, as you’ve heard us say before, we will not be — be doing any negotiation over the debt ceiling. But, broadly speaking, at the start of this new Congress, we’re reaching out to all the members through the Office of Leg Affairs, making sure that they — making sure that we have those connections with those new members, as I just stated.
But I want to say, like, in the past — and I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again — there’s been a bipartisan cooperation when it comes to lifting the debt ceiling, and that’s how it should be. That’s how it should continue.
If ever there was a time to call your members of Congress and tell them not to cave to the MAGA extremists, this is it.
