WASHINGTON (AP) — Not long ago, Joe Biden and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy were talking things out over breakfast at the Naval Observatory, Biden’s vice presidential home.
In those days, Biden wrote in his memo, he aimed to “remain engaged with the opposition party,” and the new House Majority Leader was often accompanied by other GOP lawmakers.
But now, in the midst of a national debt crisis, Those morning meetings in 2015 seemed to have political life as Democratic President Joe Biden and incoming House Speaker McCarthy held their first official meeting at the White House on Wednesday.
“You know, when I met him as vice president, he was always eager to sit down and talk,” McCarthy told The Associated Press ahead of the meeting. He was always looking for solutions, someone who wanted to work together.
As the newly-armed House Republicans face a dangerous debt-ceiling showdown, Biden has signaled no such open hospitality this time around.
At a fundraiser in New York on Tuesday, Biden called McCarthy a “gentleman,” drawing interest from Republicans.
Biden said he “promised absolutely off the wall” to win the speaker’s vote.
Two friendly leaders known for their willingness to strike deals, Biden and McCarthy are filling in on awkward political ground in hardball negotiations over the nation’s debt ceiling.
A generation apart — McCarthy, 58, was about a third in Congress when Biden, 80, was elected — the two men know the ways of Washington and the places of power well.
Both have built political brands on their ability to connect with all comers, forging unlikely deals. During their limited contact during Biden’s presidency, they showed mutual respect. And both have been here before, veterans of the last fiscal showdown, in 2016.
The political and economic issues are clear at this point as Biden considers another election to the White House and McCarthy’s troubles to maintain his new job as House Speaker, including right-wing Republicans.
“It’s not going to be a real kumbaya, just like 2011,” said Neil Bradley, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a senior aide to former House GOP Majority Leader Eric Cantor. “Both of these are experienced leaders who understand what it takes to get things done in Washington,” said Bradley, who has been part of Biden’s previous speeches.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has told Congress that she needs to raise the debt ceiling, now set at $31 trillion, to allow continued borrowing to pay the nation’s accumulated bills. While the Treasury Department may temporarily initiate “extraordinary measures” to eliminate the debt deficit, that will only last until June.
The debt-ceiling show is resonating, but with differences. Since 2011, the Republican “Tea Party” majority in the House of Representatives has demanded budget cuts and threatened a potentially dangerous federal debt deficit.
Remembering those difficult negotiations, Biden was reluctant to negotiate with the new House Republicans under McCarthy. Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, the White House released a memo outlining “two questions” Biden would pose to the Republican leader.
“Will the speaker apply the fundamental principle that the United States will never default on its financial obligations?” He reads part of one of the questions. And: “When will Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans release their budget?”
The memo, from White House National Economic Council Director Brian Dacey and Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, called on McCarthy to detail the administration’s budget by March 9 — especially after the February deadline. Exactly how to cut government spending that Republicans say is too high.
McCarthy invited himself to the White House when he pushed to meet with Biden. And he made clear over the weekend that he would not offer cuts to Medicare or Social Security as Republicans try to lower federal spending as part of any debt ceiling deal.
Although McCarthy came to the negotiating table with the power of the new council behind him, he was also seen as coming empty-handed.
It’s unclear whether the new speaker will be able to provide the votes needed by divided Republicans in Congress on any debt deal. He has promised his GOP allies a return to fiscal 2022 spending levels, but that may not be enough budget cuts for some.
A repeat of the fiscal showdown of 2011-12 is likely as the Obama administration finally negotiates with Republicans to ease the crisis, with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell at the helm.
“We’re all behind Kevin, we wish him the best in the negotiations,” McConnell told his small minority of Senate Republicans on Tuesday.
“For the deal to have any chance of surviving here, it needs to be hammered out between a majority of the House and a Democratic president.”
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, RS.D., Biden and McCarthy: “Senator McConnell and Biden don’t have the historic relationship they’ve had over the years, but I think sometimes circumstances are necessary and suggestive for people to come forward.” Together – like it or not.
Like Republicans, Democrats are wary of dealing with the opposition party. They are pushing Biden to drive hard negotiations on any trade deal.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal Biden, chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said: “He’s seen who he’s negotiating with over the last two years — these are not people who are there to negotiate something that’s meaningful to the working class.”
The president added that any deal on budget cuts with Republicans, a “champion of workers and a way to reverse inequality,” would “change all of this work.”
Reluctance to negotiate with Republicans is off-brand for Biden, who has built on decades of experience building relationships with lawmakers, governors and administrations from both parties.
In many ways, Biden and McCarthy are picking up where they left off from breakfast meetings.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said, “I think it starts with listening beyond the rhetoric, getting to know Speaker McCarthy as a person and exploring what their shared priorities might be. A close ally of the president.
Oklahoma Republican Representative Tom Cole, a former history professor, said of the two: “They are dedicated public servants.” Both are strongly political. I think they are both people familiar with failure. I think they’ll have a good conversation.”
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Associated Press writer Josh Bock contributed from New York.
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