‘You’re Not in the Real World’

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President Joe Biden had choice words for the Washington, D.C., press corps after finalizing a proposal with House Republicans to avert default on the national debt over the weekend.

Meeting with reporters outside the White House on Monday, Biden was peppered with questions about the future of the agreement following numerous concessions from both sides: a commitment to limit non-defense spending and limited work requirements for social safety net programs for Republicans, and a two-year extension of the federal debt ceiling—i.e., the total amount of debt the U.S. government is allowed to carry—for the Biden White House.

The deal was the first major win for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and historic in the sense that it averts a potential international financial crisis that would have resulted without a deal being struck.

But it also likely means fights within both parties in order to secure the necessary votes McCarthy needs to advance the deal to the United States Senate, where it will need Democratic votes to pass.

President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 29 as he travels to Wilmington, Delaware.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

With the June 5 deadline to raise the debt ceiling set by the U.S. Treasury Department fast approaching, both Republicans and Democrats alike will need to hustle in order to pass something all sides can agree on, or risk financial calamity. All at a time when both parties have lawmakers on record opposing key facets of the deal, whether it’s progressives balking at the newly imposed work requirements or fiscal hawks in the GOP angered by the comparatively paltry cuts McCarthy’s deal offered compared to their original proposal.

Can a deal be finalized on time? Biden seems to think so.

“Yes,” he offered when asked about the likelihood of meeting the deadline.

But is he sure? Biden, again, to reporters: “You guys, you realize you’re not in the real world,” he said with a smile outside the White House on Monday. “There is no reason why it shouldn’t get done by the 5th. I’m confident that we’ll get a vote in both houses and we’ll see.”

Newsweek has reached out to the White House Press Office for comment, specifically on whether Biden has any red lines established for when Congress gets its hands on the deal. Some lawmakers, however, have already announced plans to propose substantial changes to the deal.

In a statement Monday, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he would support only a 90-day extension of the debt ceiling—rather than the agreed-on two years—over concerns with the proposed levels of defense spending in the deal. Biden, however, brushed off those critiques, saying if there is an issue with the levels of spending in place, they could just simply approve new spending.

However, with the number of Republican defections in the House likely too many to give McCarthy the majority he needs to advance the deal, Biden now has to work to court Democratic votes.

As things stand, the deal’s most bitter rivals currently sit within the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose support of the deal is uncertain, if not tepid. Asked whether he would be able to get the caucus’ leader, Representative Pramila Jayapal, on board, Biden’s assessment was blunt.

“I don’t know,” he told reporters, adding he had yet to speak with her.

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