"Face the Nation," May 28, 2023
Interview
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Well, good morning Margaret.
I do look forward to the White House briefing that's going to take place later on this afternoon with the House Democratic Caucus. We'll be able to have a robust discussion.
But let me say this. President Biden has delivered a result that avoids a catastrophic default, that prevents us from our economy crashing, and stops the extreme MAGA Republicans from triggering a job-killing recession, which, as we've seen over the last week or two, increasingly seemed to have been a position that they were taking for political reasons.
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I have no idea what he's talking about, particularly because I have not been able to review the actual legislative text. All that we've reached is an agreement in principle.
Now, what I have consistently said both privately and...
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I talked to him yesterday afternoon.
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But I haven't talked to him since that point in time.
What I have consistently said, however, privately and publicly, was that the extreme MAGA Republican negotiating position, and that the extreme bill that they passed on April 26, the default on America act, contained nothing that was consistent with Democratic values or American values.
And it was unreasonable to think that that negotiating position was going to be able to result in a resolution...
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... that would make sense for the American people, when he understood and everyone understood that a bipartisan resolution was the only way forward to avoid a catastrophic default.
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Well, I have had several conversations with Pramila Jayapal over the last several days, and will continue to do so. And I expect that she'll be part of the caucus briefing that takes place later on today.
Here's what I can say is that the agreement that was reached in principle by President Biden does several important things. In addition to avoiding a devastating default that would hurt everyday Americans, it protects Social Security.
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It protects Medicare. It protects Medicaid. It protects veterans. It protects the American people from the type of devastating spending cuts that they were...
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Hold on. It protects -- hold -- hold on. I will get to that.
It protects the American people from the types of devastating spending cuts that were proposed by Republicans in their default on America act. Those are incredibly significant steps forward.
Now, in terms of the permitting issue, I haven't had the opportunity, nor have any of us had the opportunity to review what the proposed language may ultimately be in terms of the permitting situation.
In terms of SNAP, as I understand it -- and, again, we'll have the opportunity to review that language in a few hours, when it is released, but, as I understand it, it will actually result in an expansion of eligibility for people like veterans and the homeless because of changes made to exemptions as a result of what will be in this agreement, in terms of the original 1996 law that was passed.
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The White House has, of course, kept all of us fully briefed every step of the way.
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However, I do think that, as the White House has indicated, this is only an agreement in principle.
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There will not be a final agreement until we all are able to review the actual legislative text.
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Well, that remains to be seen. And, ultimately, that's a decision that House Republicans have as their prerogative to make.
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I do hope and expect to see a significant number of House Republicans voting for this agreement.
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It's my understanding that they are committed to producing at least 150 votes, if not more.
They were the ones who negotiated this agreement with the White House. And I expect that they will provide a significant number of votes to get it over the finish line.
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Well, I do expect that there will be Democratic support once we have the ability to actually be fully briefed by the White House.
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But I'm not going to predict what those numbers may ultimately look like.
We have to go through a process consistent with respecting every single member...
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... of the House of Representatives and their ability to fully understand the resolution that has been reached.
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Well, we have to, of course, avoid a market crash. We have to avoid tanking the economy. We have to avoid a default.
The reason why we're in this situation from the very beginning is that extreme MAGA Republicans made the determination...
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... that they were going to use the possibility of default to hold the economy and everyday Americans hostage, period, full stop.
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And that's why -- that's why...
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That's right.
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And that's why I'm -- and that's -- well, that's why I'm thankful that President Biden has reached a resolution.
And that's also why I'm thankful that, notwithstanding the fact that they were trying to jam 10-year spending caps...
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... down the throats of the American people, we were able to apparently match up a freeze in spending consistent with 2023 levels...
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... 2023 levels, not the 2022 levels that what they were trying to extract...
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... and make sure that we avoided a catastrophic default.
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Yes.
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Source