Democrats now say Republicans want to crush the economy so they can WIN in 2024

House Democrats insist their GOP counterparts are not negotiating in good faith and want the nation to default on $31 trillion in debt because they believe it would help them electorally.

“There are a lot of people in the Republican Party, unfortunately, who want to crash the economy,” Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal told reporters on Wednesday.

Some GOP members want to “send this country into chaos and disaster and think that maybe it will help their election prospects in 2024 if the country is in chaos,” she continued.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed a similar sentiment.

“House Republicans are determined to crush the economy because they believe it will benefit them politically,” he told reporters.

Biden used the same talking point over the weekend, saying “I think there are MAGA Republicans in the House who know the damage this would do to the economy and because I’m president and that presidents are responsible for everything,” Biden would take the blame.’

“And that’s the only way to make sure Biden doesn’t get re-elected,” he continued.

Far-right House GOP members have warned House leaders not to strike a less conservative deal than the Limit, Save, Grow Act Republicans passed in April.

Progressives issued similar warnings to President Biden’s team.

This is not the first time that debt ceiling talks have come to a head.

In 2011, Republicans took advantage of the approaching debt ceiling default to also negotiate spending cuts. It was a parallel storyline in which Democrats controlled the White House under President Obama and the Senate, while Republicans held power in the House.

With just 72 hours to spare, Democrats and Republicans reached a deal that raised the debt ceiling by $900 billion and cut spending by a similar figure.

“I think my fellow conservatives don’t think we should negotiate with our hostage,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla, told reporters on Tuesday.

Jeffries was also asked why Democrats didn’t try to raise the debt ceiling in the last Congress when they controlled the House, Senate and White House.

“I understand that Republicans in the Senate were unwilling to discuss this issue last December,” Jeffries said.

Most laws need 60 votes to pass the Senate — though Democrats could have tried to push for a raise through reconciliation.

House Democrats, who insist it is their fellow Republicans who are working to prevent a deal, are offering two other avenues to raise the nation’s borrowing limit.

Jeffries has secured the signatures of all 213 Democrats on a discharge petition and would need the signatures of five Republicans to win a majority and bring a clean debt ceiling bill to the House.

Meanwhile, progressive Democrats have urged the president to invoke authority under the 14th Amendment – which says the validity of public debt “shall not be questioned”.

Judicial filing member Jerry Nadler told reporters that the 14th Amendment was “constitutionally a good way to go” but that potential legal challenges would disrupt markets.

Meanwhile, President Kevin McCarthy insists it’s not his fault the US won’t pay its debt in eight days as the Treasury says the government will run out of funds to pay its bills.

“All Democrats voted against raising the debt ceiling. Nothing happened in the Senate. I am not a senator. I don’t control the Senate,’ the speaker told reporters as negotiations dragged on with no clear signs of progress.

“House Republicans are determined to crush the economy because they believe it will benefit them politically,” he told reporters.

“I think my fellow conservatives don’t think we should negotiate with our hostage,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla, told reporters on Tuesday.

“The President – he hasn’t spoken to us for 97 days. So don’t blame me for reaching out to the Democrats, for begging the President to meet with me.

The Treasury Department has insisted that June 1 is the date by which a deal must be reached in order to avoid risking plunging the economy into a global recession.

McCarthy claimed Republicans offered ‘a lot of concessions’, saying capping spending increases at 1% and tougher work requirements for welfare programs like SNAP, TANF and Medicare were ‘Democratic ideas’ .

“This is something Senator Biden voted for and President Clinton signed into law. It was also an idea supported by Democrats. So it’s not my fault that the Democrats today have become so extreme, away from the socialist wing, that they now oppose labor demands. that they are now opposed to saving $1 less than what we spent the year before. »