Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is sharply urging President Joe Biden to break his monthslong refusal to negotiate on raising the debt limit with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
"America is facing a historic economic crisis brought on by an abject failure to address our exploding national debt, chronic inflation, a looming recession, and the more immediate need to raise the debt ceiling," Manchin said in a statement on Thursday.
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"Our elected leaders must stop with the political games, work together and negotiate a compromise. Instead, it has been more than 78 days since President Biden last met with Speaker McCarthy," Manchin continued. "This signals a deficiency of leadership, and it must change. The fact is we are long past time for our elected leaders to sit down and discuss how to solve this impending debt ceiling crisis."
McCarthy released his long-awaited "Limit, Save, Grow" debt limit package on Wednesday, calling for a $1.5 trillion debt limit increase over the next year or until March 25, 2024, whichever comes first. (Next year will feature the high-stakes presidential contest, not an ideal time for Democrats to negotiate a debt ceiling increase.)
McCarthy announced the proposal on the House floor, and he seeks to bring a vote on the legislation next week. Although the California Republican will still need to wrangle enough House Republicans to pass the bill.
The White House and congressional Democrats have been adamant that Congress pass a clean debt ceiling increase, but Manchin, it appears, wants Biden to restart negotiations with McCarthy.
"While it is reasonable to sincerely disagree with any specific debt ceiling approach, we will achieve a historic default, and the economic whirlwind which follows, if President Biden continues to refuse to even negotiate a reasonable and commonsense compromise," Manchin said.
Manchin also applauded McCarthy's debt ceiling proposal but said he did not "agree with everything proposed."
"For the sake of the country, I urge President Biden to come to the table, propose a plan for real and substantive spending cuts and deficit reduction, and negotiate now," Manchin continued. "Failing to do so may score political points with the extremes of the Democratic Party, but make no mistake, it will be the American people — and our nation — who will pay the ultimate price if partisan politics continues to define our politics and policies."
Biden and McCarthy met in January to discuss the debt ceiling increase, but the discussion did not produce a consensus between the two leaders. If Democrats and Republicans cannot agree to raise the debt limit, the government will default. As of now, it's unclear what the exact date the United States will default, but it will likely happen sometime in the summer.
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Manchin is up for reelection next year but has not announced whether he will seek another term. As a Democrat in West Virginia, Manchin will face stiff competition should he decide to run for office again. Democrats have a narrow 51-seat majority in the Senate, including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and will need Manchin's seat if they hope to maintain control of the upper chamber in 2024.
Manchin has also not hesitated to buck Democratic pressure, often voting with Republicans on matters such as abortion or keeping the filibuster.