President Joe Biden took aim at Republicans Monday, again accusing GOP lawmakers of threatening the stability of the U.S. economy as they look for ways to negotiate unspecified spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. “Republicans on the Hill are trying to hold the economy hostage,” he tweeted, adding that they “just won’t say what for.”
Returning to a theme the White House has been hammering for weeks, Biden charged Republicans with wanting to gut Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, in addition to Social Security and Medicare. “It’s not just your social security that may hang in the balance — it’s your health care, too,” the president said, referring to the plan we told you about last week from former OMB director Russell Vought that would slash trillions of dollars from the federal budget, including from health care programs.
Expect to hear more about the burgeoning showdown over the debt ceiling later this week as Biden meets with Democratic lawmakers to hash out plans for the coming year. The president will discuss health care on Tuesday at an event in Virginia Beach before meeting with House Democrats at a retreat in Baltimore on Wednesday, and then with Senate Democrats on Thursday.
A White House official told Punchbowl News that in his meetings with lawmakers, Biden will “highlight that congressional Republicans are now threatening to trigger a catastrophic default if they are unable to take health coverage away from millions of families.” He will also “reiterate his promise to release his budget to the American public, and call on Republicans to do the same.”
