During an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young responded to a push by House Republicans to claw back unspent COVID money in exchange for raising the debt ceiling by stating that the unspent COVID money is funding for things like small businesses, veterans, and pensions, but “we’re happy to have that conversation when they take default off the table” and the debate over clawing back the unspent COVID funds isn’t tied to the debt ceiling.
While discussing House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) plan to raise the debt ceiling, CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett asked about various provisions in McCarthy’s plan and whether clawing back unspent COVID money is a “nonstarter?”
Young answered, “I’ll just remind people, Major, what we’re talking about, because it matters what these details are. People in this town like to talk in macro. Unspent funds, what is that? We’re talking about small business funds, we’re talking about veterans’ funds, we are talking about pension funds for multi-employer pensions that help machinists and carpenters save their pensions in this country. So, that’s another one, we’re happy to have that conversation when they take default off the table.”
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