VALHALLA – President Joe Biden showed no signs of blinking in his debt standoff with House Republicans on Wednesday, blasting their demands during a Hudson Valley stop and warning of economic calamity unless they relent.
Biden, speaking to a pumped-up crowd at SUNY Westchester Community College, condemned the spending cuts Republicans want as conditions for raising the nation’s debt limit, framing them as terms for an impossible choice: either slash funding for important programs or careen the nation into the first debt default in its history.
“We shouldn’t even be talking about this situation,” Biden said, before describing the incredulity of other world leaders at the country’s looming predicament. “Because if we default on our debt, the whole world is in trouble. This is a manufactured crisis.”
“There should be no question about America’s ability to pay its bills,” he added. “America’s the strongest economy in the world, and we should be cutting spending and lowering the deficit without a needless crisis, in a responsible way.”
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The speech came just three weeks before the nation is due to reach a precipice: the inability to pay its debts unless Congress lifts the current limit of $31 trillion. Biden has insisted on raising that level without conditions, putting him at an impasse with Republicans who won a narrow majority in the House in November’s elections.
They staked out their position last month with a bill that will lift the debt ceiling for less than a year, in return for spending cuts and policies they want. Almost every Republican – including all from New York – supported the bill; all Democrats voted against it.
Their proposal would cut spending to 2022 levels in the next budget due this fall, effectively erasing what…
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