house republicans have repeatedly come up empty-handed when asked a straightforward question given that they re now in charge of the house, what do they want to cut? this is in the context of a possible debt showdown looming. social security and medicare are off the table, then where do republicans want to cut spending? that s going to be the part of the dance. well, the dance is here, and that s the context for the president s meeting late today. this was his first meeting with the new speaker, kevin mccarthy. we don t have the deal because the white house kept it as a closed press first summit. biden we know has sat at that resolute desk before, had his share of high stakes meetings and watched as vice president when then president obama faced a similar effort to ransom the economy. republicans are offering a similar brinksmanship, but also have internal fights with a narrow majority about what they want to do and what they want to cut. house republicans say they migh
reasonable and loyal to kevin mccarthy? no. all the people who took the speaker vote hostage aren t going to vote for whatever the deal is. that s clear. there s no such thing of a debt increase that gets every republican. i think kevin mccarthy is at least to this point showing that he wants to at least come across as the reasonable one here. he s just saying, i want to have negotiations. i m taking social security off the table, taking medicare off the table. i just want to have a conversation. if that s the tone he takes throughout, it sounds like joe biden was willing to at least entertain something. it is not normal to increase the debt limit with nothing attached to it. it is the norm to have things attached to it. well, define normal. as of when? as of most debt limit increases over the last 40 years have been attached to something else. it is true that we increased the debt limit under donald trump. i will tell you firsthand, that was not easy either. there had to be thin