On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Mitch Landrieu, a Senior Adviser to President Joe Biden, reacted to House Republicans passing a bill to raise the debt ceiling by stating that we can’t hold the economy hostage over the debt limit, “because it’s too dangerous. So, what the Speaker of the House did today with a very slim majority is really risky and really terrible.”
Landrieu said, “Wolf, the President, representing the people of America, has said that he’ll always sit with the Speaker of the House and talk about his vision for America versus the Speaker’s vision with MAGA Republicans to talk about budget and spending, but he will not negotiate about throwing the American economy off of a cliff on the issue of the debt limit. Now, this is not really a very complicated issue. When President Reagan was in office, when President Trump was in office, raising the debt limit was not really a matter of holding the economy hostage. And the President’s position is we cannot do that again, because it’s too dangerous. So, what the Speaker of the House did today with a very slim majority is really risky and really terrible. And the Speaker looked very happy and very proud of himself, which is really curious, because, essentially, what the cuts do in that bill is basically cut 22% of, really, programs that affect the American people.”
After Landrieu said the cuts in the bill will hurt the economy, host Wolf Blitzer asked, “Speaker McCarthy says President Biden is putting the U.S. economy in jeopardy right now by his lack of action. How do you respond to that?”
Landrieu responded, “Well, first of all, the President has brought receipts, he passed four of the largest bills in the history of the country, again, he’s created 12.1 million jobs, 850,000 manufacturing jobs, actually building the economy. One way to reduce the deficit, by the way, is growing the economy, which the President has done. And I just think the President has said, listen, this is really simple, pass the debt limit, just like you did with Trump, just like you did with Reagan. You want to come talk about the budget? Happy to talk to you anytime, anyplace, but bring the receipts. What the Speaker of the House, with a two-vote margin, did today was actually put the nation at risk. And the cuts that they’re going to put in place are going to damage economic growth. Independent analysis has said that. If you want to reduce the deficit, the President’s already reduced the deficit by $3 trillion and his plan, his full budget — which by the way, the Speaker and the MAGA Republicans have not put out — actually reduces the deficit as well.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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