US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy accused President Joe Biden of not being “sensible” during a speech at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, where he sought to gain the upper hand in negotiations with the White House over raising the debt ceiling.
Biden and congressional Democrats have called on Republicans to raise the debt ceiling, or federal borrowing limit, without conditions, and have said they are not open to negotiating on the issue. But McCarthy and House Republicans have sought to tie raising the debt ceiling to steep budget cuts.
McCarthy on Monday said House Republicans would vote “in the coming weeks” on a bill that would lift the debt ceiling into 2024 and “save taxpayers trillions of dollars” by capping federal spending, clawing back unspent Covid-19 relief funds and restoring work requirements for welfare programmes, among other Republican policy priorities.