White House: House Hasn’t Done Its Job by Passing Bill Raising Debt Limit Because Senate Opposes It, We Want Clean Hike House Opposes

During an interview with CBS News on Thursday, Biden Senior Adviser Anita Dunn argued that House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) hasn’t completed his job by passing a bill to raise the debt ceiling because the House’s bill won’t pass the Senate and the two sides “have to come together.” Dunn also argued there should be no fiscal changes tied to raising the debt ceiling, a position that won’t pass the House.

Dunn stated, “I think what the President expects is, first of all, for Congress to do its job. This is actually Congress’ job, the President cannot raise the debt limit. It is their job to do this. It is their job to keep us from defaulting. But what he would also like to do — and he has been clear about this — is that there is a place and it’s an appropriate time now, for the congressional leaders to begin the kinds of budget discussions that, frankly, you have when one house is controlled by the Republicans, the other house is controlled by Democrats. … But that has nothing to do with keeping the United States economy from going into default.”

CBS News Political Correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns then said, “Kevin McCarthy argues that he’s already done his job, that he passed a measure last week through his conference — that is very difficult to do for him — he has argued that he’s done his job.”

Dunn responded, “Well, Caitlin, I don’t know, maybe they need to go back to [‘Schoolhouse Rock’] and look at how a bill becomes law. But he has begun his job, because the job is, first, the House passes something, then, of course, the Senate has to pass something. And Leader Schumer has already said what the House passed is never going to pass the Senate. Then, the two sides have to come together. Okay, so — and the President obviously believes that these are important talks and that both sides need to listen to the other.”

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