Vice President Kamala Harris virtually briefed "stakeholders" and members of the press on the Biden administration's debt ceiling negotiations with House Republicans Thursday, but the briefing was marred by technical difficulties that eventually booted the uncharacteristically raspy-voiced vice president from the call.
President Joe Biden is currently in Japan for the G-7 leaders summit, and Harris is serving as a de facto point person in the debt proceedings for the White House until he returns on Sunday. Harris and Biden both attended Tuesday's Oval Office meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
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National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard and White House Office of Public Engagement Director Stephen Benjamin also took part in Thursday's call.
White House officials did not answer questions about whether or not Harris's slight illness was hampering her work at all regarding the debt talks.
"I want to thank you all for joining us today. If you can hear I have a bit of a frog in my throat please forgive me. I've been talking about this issue a lot recently," Harris opened her remarks before shortly being booted from the Zoom meeting.
After Harris's audio dropped, Brainard took over to discuss before the vice president returned roughly seven minutes later.
"President Biden and I met with our four congressional leaders Tuesday here at the White House. We had a productive conversation. "We believe that it occurred in good faith with all the leaders in that meeting agreeing that America will not default during that meeting. The president and the speaker of the House designated senior members of our teams who continue to negotiate. They met yesterday and they will continue to meet," the vice president stated. "Right now, we just need you, the leaders on this call, to do what you always do and make sure your voices are heard."
The vice president devoted the bulk of her remarks on Thursday urging stakeholders and leaders on the call to activate their supporters to pressure Republicans to soften their negotiations stance.
"Make sure members of Congress know a default would not be acceptable under any circumstances. Talk with your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues and make sure they understand the real consequences a default would have on their lives, immediate consequences, and do what you all on this call in particular do best," Harris added. "Let's organize, activate our communities, and remind folks of what's at stake, and get the word out about why this issue is so important and why Congress must act. I'll close with this: In the United States of America, we pay our bills. People have to pay their bills, and our government has to pay its bills. Our nation has never defaulted on its debt, and it never will with the support and the leadership of all of you on this call."
The Zoom meeting eventually concluded without the White House fielding questions from reporters or stakeholders.
The White House received harsh criticism from Republicans regarding Biden's decision to attend the G-7 summit this week as debt talks continue. Administration officials maintain that Biden — who lopped off the two final legs of his trip and will return to Washington, D.C., on Sunday rather than Tuesday as originally scheduled — can perform his duties as president "anywhere."
Top aides, including White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, have also stressed Harris's role as a top adviser and equal "partner" to Biden in the debt negotiations.
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"She has been a partner in this," Jean-Pierre said of Harris during Tuesday's press briefing. "She has been consulted multiple times on the budget, on preventing default. This is something where the president clearly respects her view."
"The vice president is a close adviser. She’s a partner to the president that has been consistent the last two years," she added. "The president can be president anywhere. He can do the work of the American people abroad, and certainly, he does it every day here when we’re in the White House. So that’s not going to change."