Days after House GOP bill is approved, debt ceiling deadlock continues

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark called on Republicans to “be the grown-ups in the room,” in addressing the debt ceiling.

“The American people are looking at us and saying, this shouldn’t be a partisan drama playing out that we are going to foot the bill for,” the Massachusetts Democrat said on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.” “Avoid a default crisis that is manufactured by the GOP. And then we can go and talk about investments.”

But Republicans are continuing to blame President Joe Biden, who has called on Congress to pass a clean debt limit increase, saying he will not negotiate with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the issue, citing historical precedent.

“Happy to meet with McCarthy,” Biden said at the end of a brief press conference at the White House on Wednesday. “But not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended. That’s not negotiable.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise called on Biden to come to the table Sunday.

“The White House ultimately needs to get into this negotiation. The president has been in hiding for two months, Martha,” Scalise told host Martha Raddatz during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “That’s not acceptable to Americans. They expect the president to sit in a room with Speaker McCarthy and start negotiating.”

Biden, Scalise said, is “trying to run out the clock and create a debt crisis.”

“We passed a bill to address the problem. It’s time now for the president to get in this game, get off the sidelines and let’s start negotiating and figuring this out. Not in June when we get to the midnight hour, but today.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Biden is willing to negotiate with McCarthy — just not over the debt limit.

“What he said is that he’s not going to negotiate with people who are threatening to literally blow up our economy, right, put more people out of work, drive up costs, in order to get their way,” Van Hollen said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“He will sit down with Speaker McCarthy to talk about these issues in the framework of the budget and the appropriations process,” Van Hollen added.

If Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling the U.S. government could default on its debt in coming months, according to financial analysts, an event that could plunge the country into economic crisis, as well as harm the nation’s credibility internationally.

But Biden knows “that we can’t default,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

One option he sees as a way forward: a sit-down between Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“He’s saying we can discuss that, we can negotiate but first pay your bills. And I think that — I think Senator McConnell understands this, and I think the President will sit down with Senator McConnell,” Khanna said.