President Joe Biden claimed Sunday some Republicans are willing to allow the U.S. to default on its debt for the first time to prevent him from winning another presidential term.
If the economy does default, Biden argued he would be “blameless,” and called for Republicans to move their positions.
“On the merits, based on what I’ve offered, I would be blameless,” Biden responded to a question from Fox’s Peter Doocy. “On the politics of it, no one would be blameless. And by the way, that’s one of the — one of the things that some are contemplating.”
“I think there are some MAGA Republicans in the House who know the damage that it would do to the economy and because I am president — and presidents are responsible for everything — Biden would take the blame. And that’s the one way to make sure Biden’s not re-elected,” Biden added.
The president made the remarks while delivering a press conference in Japan at the G7 summit before heading back to the U.S. to continue debt limit talks with Congressional leaders.
Biden has met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy twice to negotiate the California Republican’s desire to tie a debt limit raise to spending cuts, and cut his Asia trip short in hopes of coming to an agreement before the impending deadline of June 1. Biden and McCarthy disagree on how to go about spending cuts, with the president aiming to cut back subsidies on Big Oil and Big Pharma, and the House speaker wanting to implement new work requirements for those who receive money from safety net programs. (RELATED: Biden, Congressional Leaders Have ‘Serious Differences’ Over Debt Limit, White House Says)
The negotiating team has also included House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Kamala Harris. On Tuesday, the leaders appointed Congressional and White House staff to lead the talks.
Republican Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, who was appointed by McCarthy to lead talks from his side, told Fox Business the negotiations between Republicans and the White House stalled Friday.
“We’ve decided to press pause because it’s just not productive,” Graves said. “Until people are willing to have reasonable conversations about how you can actually move forward and do the right thing, then we’re not gonna sit here and talk to ourselves.”