By JOSH BOAK
WASHINGTON — They’re not quibbling about minor points. There are stark differences in how President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy want to shore up the government’s finances.
The Democratic president primarily wants higher taxes on the wealthy to lower deficits; the GOP congressional leader favors sharp spending cuts.
Staring down a fast-approaching deadline to raise the U.S. government’s debt limit, they have to find some version of common ground as they jostle in public over the nation’s $31.4 trillion in red ink. But how can they reconcile their competing visions while also achieving the levels of deficit reduction both say they want?
PLAYING CHICKEN
McCarthy wants House Republicans to vote this week on a proposal that would shave an estimated $4.8 trillion off deficits, mostly through spending caps on “discretionary spending.”
By having the House pass his plan, McCarthy hopes to goad Biden into negotiations. Biden is insisting on a “clean” increase in the government’s legal borrowing authority. No negotiations on that. But what Biden has offered Republicans is the chance to negotiate about the yearly budget — provided the speaker produces a detailed spending outline.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre laid out the administration’s thinking at Tuesday’s news briefing.
“We’re not going to negotiate on something that they should be doing, which is avoiding default,” Jean-Pierre said. “But when it comes to the budget, when it comes to how they want to see spending cuts for the American people, we will have that discussion.”
Which side will give ground? Will both have to?
On Monday, McCarthy’s spokesman, Chad Gilmartin, sent out an email listing quotes from 11 Democratic lawmakers who have suggested talks should start.
“Biden must decide between recklessness or responsibility,” Gilmartin wrote.
Kent Smetters, faculty director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, said the fight…
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